Years of higher interest rates have sent our rent, mortgage, and debt payments soaring, while banks have raked in huge profits for doing absolutely nothing.
The big four UK banks (Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds, and NatWest) made a record pre-tax profit of £45.9 billion in 2024, £45.7bn in 2025, and - after announcing £29.2bn in profits for the first six months of 2026 - look set to break records again this year. [1]
Introducing a 38% levy, in line with the Energy Profits Levy on oil and gas companies who also profited from the cost of living crisis, could bring in over £19 billion. [2]
Banks are (unsurprisingly) against this; the CEOs of Lloyds, Barclays, and HSBC publicly begged previous Chancellor Rachel Reeves not to - and were rewarded with huge bonuses for successfully lobbying against a windfall tax in last year's Autumn Budget. [3]
Introducing a windfall tax on banks would clearly signal the kind of change Andy Burnham's new government have promised to deliver and that millions of us desperately want to see, to prove whose side they're really on and that Labour are no longer in the pocket of big donors or beholden to corporate lobbyists from the City.
As the cost of living crisis rages on, a tax on banks is one of the best places to start rather than raiding the accounts of ordinary savers and small businesses.
Add your name now to tell John Healey to #TaxTheBanks.
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