Budget: Government confirms timetable for Lloyds share sale

Mr Osborne said the government is committed to selling its Lloyds stake to the retail sector and to returning its stake to the private sector in 2016/17.

Mr Osborne also confirmed that a further sell-off will aim to raise up to £25 billion from offloading shares in Royal Bank of Scotland by the end of 2019/20.

Mr Osborne had been expected to sell £2bn of discounted Lloyds shares to retail investors in February, but the sale was postponed due to poor market conditions. The share price is currently 69.1p, below the 73.6p paid by the Government in 2009.

“The government is committed to returning the financial sector assets acquired in 2008/09 to the private sector,” Osborne said. “As there is no longer a policy need for the Government to hold these assets, it will seek to dispose of them, reducing while maximising value for taxpayers.”

According to the Budget report, the Government has recovered more than £75bn since 2010, which includes about £7.5bn through the continuation of the Lloyds Banking Group trading plan.

“UK taxpayers’ money was used to bail out the banks, so it is right to give the public the opportunity to invest in Lloyds Banking Group,” Osborne said.

He went on to outline a timetable for the selling-off of the UK government’s £15.7 billion of bank assets rescued from Bradford & Bingley at the height of the financial crisis under plans to recoup more taxpayer cash.

The Treasury confirmed that UK Asset Resolution – the body charged with controlling state-owned banking assets – is considering a major programme of sales of Bradford & Bingley (B&B) mortgages to repay the £16 billion debt from its bail out.

It said this was expected by the end of March 2018, although the Treasury cautioned it would be subject to market conditions and ensuring “value for money”.

The B&B mortgages sale could help offset the delay in stake sales in Lloyds and RBS.