Taxpayers must not lose out in the Coalition's haste to sell off its stake in Royal Bank of Scotland ahead of the next General Election, the SNP has warned.

Reports suggest that ministers are prepared to sell the UK Government's shares in RBS, even at a loss.

But the SNP warned that such a move would betray taxpayers, who bailed the bank out to the tune of £46 billion in 2008.

The UK Government still owns more than 80% of RBS.

Coalition insiders believe that a sell-off could provide the Tory-LibDem Coalition with billions to fund a series of pre-election "bribes" in the run up to 2015.

Shares in the bank are currently still well below what the then Labour government paid for them at the height of the banking crisis.

However, ministers are increasingly concerned that it may take years or even decades to recoup their full investment.

SNP Treasury spokesman Stewart Hosie said yesterday that the taxpayer "must not lose out" under any sale.

"There has been a clear commitment that all the financial institutions taken into public ownership from across the UK would return to the private sector and the taxpayer would see their money returned," he said.

"The public must get their money back."

Alistair Darling, who was Chancellor during the 2008 bailout, blamed the Coalition for the bank's recent performance.

"The share price we see today is largely of their own making," he said.