MPs to decide whether to release controversial Royal Bank of Scotland report

An influential group of MPs could take the bold step of releasing a controversial report into Edinburgh based Royal Bank of Scotland's mistreatment of small businesses as soon as Tuesday afternoon.

The Treasury Select Committee (TSC) will meet in private today to discuss whether to officially publish the widely leaked report into Global Restructuring Group (GRG), the banking giant's much-criticised restructuring arm.

The behind-closed-doors meeting could thrash out timings, with MPs weighing whether to immediately release the document using parliamentary privilege or hold fire for another day.

It comes after Andrew Bailey, head of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), was ordered earlier this month to publish the report by TSC chair Nicky Morgan.

However, Mr Bailey said the release proved impossible'' for legal reasons.

The FCA has come under fire for completely'' losing control of the review, which was leaked online and shared openly on social media.

Mr Bailey has cautioned the MPs against publishing the report themselves, having said in an earlier letter: If the committee decides itself to publish the report, it will no doubt want to consider carefully the precedent of publishing a document obtained from the FCA under parliamentary privilege where the FCA considers that it is legally constrained from publishing the document itself.''

RBS has been dogged by allegations that GRG intentionally pushed small businesses towards failure in the hope of picking up their assets on the cheap