Folkestone and Hythe MP and former Conservative Leader Michael Howard has called for an immediate investigation over a leaked story which caused shares to plummet.

Mr Howard wrote to the Financial Services Authority after a report by the BBC’s business editor Robert Peston suggested a number of UK banks 'asked' the Chancellor for capital injections, causing UK bank shares to tumble on Tuesday (7 October).

The letter pointed out that the regulatory announcement system existed to prevent this sort of report and its consequences and requested that an inquiry into the source of the leaked information be launched immediately.