Shares in British banks were broadly down on the FTSE 100 in morning trading, following earlier losses caused by the Irish debt crisis.

Yesterday the Irish government unveiled a new austerity budget, which will see 15 billion euros of expenditure cut over the next four years.

The budget will see the minimum wage cut by a euro, VAT will rise from 21 per cent to 22 per cent in 2013 and to 24 per cent in 2014. In addition around 25,000 public sector jobs will be cut.

By 11:30 shares in Lloyds Banking Group were down 0.34 per cent to 64.16 pence per share, RBS shares dropped 1.04 per cent to 40.14 pence per share and Barclays shares fell 0.54 per cent to 265.55 pence per share

HSBC however saw shares rise 0.46 per cent to 655.20 pence per share.

Overall the FTSE 100 was up 0.35 per cent to 5,676.79.

Barclays HSBC FTSE