Labour uses social tools to shame RBS

John Prescott is trying to stop Royal Bank of Scotland paying £1bn in bonuses

The Labour Party is using a range of online collaboration tools to campaign against bankers' bonuses, in a further shift to conduct politics online and appeal to the younger generation.

John Prescott, former deputy prime minister and current MP for Hull East, has launched an online petition to stop the Royal Bank of Scotland, which received £20bn in public funds, paying out £1bn of it in bonuses to bankers and traders.

"This from a bank that last year posted losses of £28bn," reads the petition, which is powered by online petition provider iPetitions.

"We believe this is morally and economically outrageous, and the bonuses should be stopped. The taxpayer owns 68 per cent of RBS so we are now all shareholders."

Prescott has drawn attention to the petition in his new Prescott Express blog, which launched at the beginning of January, and his new Twitter account, where he has 418 followers so far.

Prescott reported at 8.50am this morning that 8,393 people had signed the petition, which was posted yesterday.

In addition, 5,343 social networkers were reported to have joined the Facebook version of the petition - a group called 'No Ifs, No Buts - Pass On The Cut'.

By 5pm today, the group had increased to 6,205 members.