Northern Rock Bonuses

Nationalised bank Northern Rock is to award staff a 10% bonus.

Northern Rock, you will recall, was nationalised in February 2008 after a run on the bank in 2007. Once Britain's fifth-biggest home loan provider, it was taken into public ownership after it failed to find a suitable buyer from the private sector.

A Northern Rock spokesman refused to be drawn on how much money was being paid out, but pointed out that the staff-wide bonus scheme had been announced in October. He also stressed that no executives or senior management would benefit. The reward comes after staff met targets on repaying the bank's £26bn loan from the government.

Asked whether Mr Brown approved of the bonuses, the prime minister's spokesman said: "Northern Rock, as I think is well known, has repaid its debts to the government at a rate faster than originally planned for. Operational decisions such as this are a matter for Northern Rock."

Northern Rock still owes billions to taxpayers. At a time when millions of people are facing pay cuts or even unemployment, this bonus is hard to understand. And harder to accept.