Labour acted with 'complete integrity' over Co-op bank

Ed Miliband has told ITV News that Labour behaved with "complete integrity" over the Co-op bank, now engulfed by scandal over its former chairman, the Rev Paul Flowers.

In an interview this evening, he said: "What I can say, with absolute clarity, is that we have acted with complete integrity on this issue."

He was speaking after the Prime Minister announced there would be a fresh inquiry into the financial troubles that left the Coop with a £1.5 billion black hole - and into how the Rev Paul Flowers was appointed as a non-executive chairman.

In angry exchanges at Prime Minister's Questions, David Cameron said: "What we can now see is that this bank, driven into the wall by this chairman, has been giving soft loans to the Labour party, facilities to the Labour party, donations to the Labour party, trooped in and out of Downing Street under Labour, still advising the leader of the Labour party.

"And yet, now we know, all along they knew about his past. Why did they do nothing to bring to the attention of the authorities this man who has broken a bank?" he asked.