Women to run banks

LABOUR’S deputy leader Harriet Harman plans to use equality laws to put women in charge of Britain’s nationalised banks.

EQUALITY LAWS New laws could put women at the head of nationalised banks EQUALITY LAWS: New laws could put women at the head of nationalised banks

Miss Harman said “positive action” could be taken under the controversial new laws to ensure greater female representation on the boards of banks rescued by the taxpayer.

“Sometimes we have to take scary methods in order to achieve worthwhile results,” she told a Women In The Recession forum in Westminster last night.

“It is about saying, ‘Because you are a woman I’m going to put you in this promotion’.”

Her comments follow concerns about pay discrimination in the City, where women earn on average 40 per cent less.

But Miss Harman’s plan could well face opposition from senior Government figures who do not want to be seen as interfering in bailed-out banks like RBS and Lloyds.

The laws will be debated next week.

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