Financial crisis: News yesterday that another major UK bank is set to be nationalised fuelled fears for more jobs as unions accused financial giants of serious failings.

News yesterday that another major UK bank is set to be nationalised fuelled fears for more jobs as unions accused financial giants of serious failings.

The UK Government is poised to nationalise Bradford & Bingley and possibly merge it with Northern Rock, which was also nationalised earlier this year after attempts to find another bank to mount a take over proved unsuccessful.

Bradford & Bingley's "toxic" loans will be taken on by the Treasury which will try to sell the company's savings business and 200 branches, which include 12 across Scotland, on to other banks.

The 3000-strong workforce, 66 of whom are based in Scotland, were told just last week that 370 jobs were already being axed in a cost-cutting move aimed at stabilising the bank's falling share price. Today they face the threat of yet more redundancies.

Unions north of the border welcomed the lack of indecision which many blamed for scenes of panic outside Northern Rock at the start of the year.

But they condemned "bad planning and monitoring" for causing the problem and jeopardising jobs around the UK.

A Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC) spokesman said: "We are certainly of the view that, faced with the situation that he was, with Bradford and Bingley's poor business model and the previous failure to regulate, the Chancellor has done the right thing and has acted with commendable speed, obviously more so than in the case of Northern Rock.

"While we are pleased that he has acted with speed this is the consequence of a poor business model.

"Obviously we would be concerned about any threat to jobs in Scotland which will depend on which functions of the failed bank are sold off. It's hard to judge at this stage."

Bradford & Bingley specialises in buy-to-let mortgages, exposing it to greater risk as investors who took out loans to buy flats and houses to rent out now find that the value of their property has fallen so low that rental income no longer covers their mortgage payments.

The Scottish Consumer Council (SCC) said yesterday that savers' money would be safe under any nationalisation and praised the government for acting quickly to avoid a Northern Rock-style panic.

However, it also warned that the move would leave consumers worse off than before overall.

Martyn Evans, the SCC director, said: "Compared with the handling of Northern Rock, we should acknowledge that this time around savers are not having to queue outside branches fearing the worst because nobody thought to tell them what was going on.

"Ultimately, though, this is bad news for consumers. There's now less choice for savers and borrowers and it reduces consumer confidence even further."

Meanwhile, economic advisers at the Scottish Government will meet later this week to discuss the £12bn Halifax Bank of Scotland takeover by Lloyds TSB to try to minimise job losses in the troubled financial sector.

The takeover would create a superbank, controlling almost one-third of the UK's savings and mortgage market.

In Yorkshire the expected nationalisation of Bradford & Bingley was branded "tragic" in a region already left reeling by the recent takeover of HBOS, threatening thousands of jobs in the town of Halifax.

Conservative MP Philip Davies - whose Shipley constituency in West Yorkshire includes Bingley and Crossflats, where just over 1000 people are employed at Bradford & Bingley's headquarters - said: "Nationalisation does not guarantee jobs being retained.

"If we are honest about it and if we are realistic about it, nationalisation is not going to be the best for jobs."