Bank chiefs will come under pressure from MPs today to explain why they are planning to pay at least £2 billion in bonuses in the next few days.

Stephen Hester, the new chief executive of Royal Bank of Scotland, is expected to be asked to justify plans to pay almost £1 billion to RBS staff, including six-figure bonuses to some of the most senior bankers. RBS has taken £20 billion of rescue capital from the Government, which now owns a 68 per cent stake of it. It has just announced an £8 billion loss.

Eric Daniels, chief executive of Lloyds TSB, will come under similar pressure after his bank and its merger partner HBOS received £17 billion in rescue injections, giving the Government a 43 per cent stake. Mr Daniels received a bonus of £1.81 million in total pay of £2.77 million in 2007.

Lloyds TSB has a much smaller investment banking division than RBS but is still expected to pay hundreds of millions of pounds in bonuses.

John Varley, chief executive of Barclays, will also be asked about plans to pay out £600 million to investment bankers and further payments to other employees. Although Barclays has shunned government capital, it is taking advantage of support offered by the Bank of England. Mr Varley received a bonus of £1.425 million in total pay of £2.4 million in 2007.

Mr Hester is expected to argue that half the bonuses are unavoidable, because they were agreed when RBS bought ABN Amro. Many other bonuses are due to people whose departments generated big profits.

MPs on the select committee also want the banks to explain why they are not lending more, given all the state support, which is already at £500 billion in loans and guarantees.

Divisions surfaced within the Cabinet yesterday as Harriet Harman, the deputy Labour leader, was slapped down by senior Blairite ministers after proposing sanctions, some retrospective, on bankers who have been helped by government bailouts.

John Hutton, the Defence Secretary, and Hazel Blears, the Communities Secretary, led the attack on Ms Harman, warning that the Government must not be seen to be penalising successful bankers or breaking contractual obligations. One source told The Times that the Cabinet discussion had been “toxic” and “unpleasant”. Another accused Ms Harman, the bookmakers’ favourite to be the next Labour leader, of grandstanding in an obvious populist way.

It is understood that measures to clamp down on bonus payouts could come as early as this week.

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