An influential Tory think-tank, the Centre for Policy Studies, proposes that taxpayers, having been burdened with all the risks from the bank bailouts, should get some of the benefits. Every taxpayer, according to CPS’ radical new proposal, could be handed more than £1,000 worth of shares in the Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds.

In essence, taxpayers – including thousands who themselves need help with debt -- would become stakeholders in the banks, and could sell their shares to make a profit.

Here’s the background: The Government has an 84% stake in RBS after bailing out the struggling bank to the tune of  £45.5bn at the height of the financial crisis in 2008, and owns 43% of Lloyds, for which it paid £20.3bn. Shares in both banks are trading today well below the point at which the government could break even on the bailout costs – about 51p for RBS and 74p for Lloyds - so if the shares were to be sold now the taxpayer would make a loss.

CPS makes the point that this break-even price for the banks’ shares is widely known, and that investors will therefore refuse to pay significantly above it, instead demanding a sizeable discount. But if individual taxpayers are handed the shareholdings, investors will be unable to make such a demand and the share price will be free to rise with market forces.

To quote the CPS proposal: “The market in the shares switches from one large known seller at an assumed price, to a broader group of owners with no rational economic reason to sell at that assumed price”.

Put simply, under the CPS plan every taxpayer would be given 1,450 shares in RBS and 450 shares in Lloyds. These shares would be given a value set at the government's break-even share price levels, 51p for RBS and 74p for Lloyds, making each holding worth £1072.50 to an individual.

Crucially, however, this amount would be returned to the Government and only value above this would be kept by the individual. If the value of the shares were to rise to £1,500 and a taxpayer decides to cash in, that taxpayer would make a £500 profit.

The plan already has the backing of a number of senior Conservatives, including Matthew Hancock, who used to be George Osborne's chief of staff, and Lord Saatchi, who is chairman of the think-tank.

A spokesman for the Treasury described the scheme as “interesting”.

By James Murray