Bad bankers should be 'struck off': Miliband

Bankers who take unacceptable risks or mis-sell products to customers should be barred, Labour leader Ed Miliband said.

Speaking to the Sunday Times, he demanded tough new rules allowing regulators to "strike off" reckless bankers in the same way as negligent midwives and doctors.

Miliband said: "Banking should be a trusted profession. Other professions - such as medicine and the law - have codes of conduct and disciplinary rules.

"Bankers should be held to account to ensure they act with integrity, in the best interests of their customers, and in the best interests of the wider public."

His call comes ahead of today's publication of the Independent Commission on Banking's (ICB) final report which will make recommendations on how to prevent another banking crisis.

The Government launched the ICB, chaired by Sir John Vickers, last year to find ways of avoiding another banking crisis and taxpayer bailout.

Miliband told the Sunday Times: "It is crucial we learn the right lessons from the financial crisis as we seek to ensure it does not happen again and build a different kind of economy that will meet the big challenges of the future.

"We should never have to bail the banks out again. To guarantee that we need the serious and lasting reform."