Royal Bank of Scotland was last night branded ‘deplorable’ for pulling the plug on fashion retailer Peacocks – putting 13,000 high street jobs at risk. The taxpayer-controlled bank withdrew from last ditch talks to save the store chain yesterday, threatening the biggest retail collapse since the demise of Woolworths three years ago. Its move forced Peacocks, which has more than 700 shops in the UK and abroad, to announce it will go into administration in ten days unless new investors are found.

The fate of the clothing chain – founded as a ‘penny bazaar’ in 1884 – has sparked a bitter row over the conduct of RBS. The bank engaged in billions of pounds of reckless lending to the retail sector during the boom years under the stewardship of disgraced former boss Sir Fred Goodwin. It was given a £45.5billion bailout by the Government and the taxpayer now owns more than 80 per cent of the bank. RBS’s lending to the retail sector has given it the power of life and death over thousands of stores across the country, which have been placed in danger by the biggest squeeze on household incomes since the 1920s.........Read more here---: Row over RBS conduct as bank withdraws from talks to save Peacocks putting 13,000 jobs at risk | This is Money