George Osborne has been accused of forcing regulators to ditch a review into Britain’s banking culture.

ITV reports:

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has announced it will instead “engage individually with firms to encourage their delivery of cultural change”…

Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron said any hope of change had been “dashed”.

“The public are rightly fed up with the banking sector marking its own homework and cutting out anyone with a critical eye. Any hope of change and progress has been dashed, with a very clear return to businesses as usual,” he said.

“Cosy decisions between the banks and politicians, and a toothless regulator, lead us to one of the biggest financial crashes in living memory. The high-risk players in the banks were left to gamble with public money, with little care for what may happen.

“When the banking sector faces trouble, British livelihoods are on the line. To do anything other than operate with complete transparency, and with proper checks and balances, will be reckless and will undermine public trust.”