Osborne warns bankers over bailouts

By Tim Castle

BIRMINGHAM (Reuters) - Shadow Chancellor George Osborne warned bankers on Monday that they will have to pay their share of any financial bailouts under a future Conservative government.

"I will not tax the family earning 20,000 pounds to carry on paying the bonuses of the banker earning 2 million pounds," he told the Conservative conference in Birmingham.

His speech came shortly after the government announced it was nationalising mortgage bank Bradford and Bingley, the latest victim of the global credit crunch.

Osborne has been a consistent critic of the government's rescue of Northern Rock in February, saying the taxpayer was paying too high a price for the errors of financiers.

He said there had been "terrible failures of regulation."

In a message designed to assure voters that the Conservatives would not be soft on the City, Osborne said bankers who take risks must also bear the cost.

"If you pay yourself sums far beyond what anyone else in any other walk of life does, then be prepared to lose it when you make mistakes," he said to applause.

The Conservatives' once commanding lead over Labour has halved over recent days as Prime Minister Gordon Brown recovers some measure of voter support after Labour's Manchester conference last week.