Chancellor Alistair Darling has unveiled the world's biggest banking bail-out as the government invested another £40bn into Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and Lloyds.

The government has increased the taxpayer's stake in RBS by £33bn and in Lloyds by £5.7bn. The additional money to the two banks is the equivalent to £2,000 for every family in the UK.

In return for the support the two banks have agreed not to pay cash bonuses to any staff earning above £39,000 for 2009 and to defer executive bonuses until 2012.

"With RBS, it breaks a new world record for the biggest bail-out of any single bank in the country. In return for this huge sum of money there is no guarantee that it will get lending flowing in the real economy, or help real businesses stay afloat," said the Conservative's George Osborne.