The Government has announced a £50bn part-nationalisation scheme. As someone who has been calling for the nationalisation of the banking sector since this crisis began, I should be satisfied.

However, as more details of this package emerge, economists and Labour MPs are increasingly alarmed.

The deal is incredibly reckless; the Government will only take preference shares in the banks in exchange for a massive investment of taxpayers’ cash.

If the Government is injecting public money, it should also take the right to oversee board appointments, executive pay and future business operations.

The Government argues that by taking preference shares, the taxpayer will have first call on dividends. However, the only banks that will use this £50bn facility will be those in trouble. Therefore there will be no dividends – we are throwing good public money after bad.

The Government could use its stake to ensure the public is protected through cuts in consumer borrowing rates – safeguarding people against default on debt and mortgage payments, giving a no-repossession guarantee, providing people with a “right to stay” in their homes and securing the jobs of those workers now threatened with redundancy as their bosses’ kamikaze capitalism unravels.

The taxpayer would also then have control to scrutinise the banks’ accounts, have representation on the boards, to impose a pay cap for bank directors and end excessive bonus binges.

This deal is like your neighbour going on a massive spending binge – throwing a party, buying a new car, going on holiday – and then sending you the bill. There is a risk of taxpayers being hit doubly, once through this bank bailout plan and the second time as the recession bites and they risk losing their jobs, homes and going further into debt.

At that point they will rightly be asking the Government: “Where is the bailout for the British public?” – and that is why I shall continue fighting for the best deal for the British public, not the city bankers.