Taxpayers could be loaded with up to £200billion of so-called toxic bank debts in a move to prevent a financial collapse.

Gordon Brown is under pressure from the City to follow the U.S., where the government has agreed to help bail out the banks.

But the calls provoked claims that Downing Street risks playing ‘fairy godmother’ to incompetent bankers.

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The Government has refused to rule out a U.S.-style scheme, while insisting nothing similar is currently being planned.

City experts claimed that if the Prime Minister does not act, Britain could ultimately follow the U.S. into a financial and economic meltdown.

Such a move could ultimately load taxpayers with £200billion of stricken loans, City estimates suggest.

• A d v e r t i s e m e n t

On Friday the White House stepped in to the market chaos with a pledge to nationalise American banks’ bad loans, in an attempt to prevent a banking crisis rivalling that seen in the Great Depression.

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