It would tear apart Royal Bank of Scotland south of the border; it would be hard to achieve; and even if it could be done, it wouldn’t necessarily satisfy the European Commission.

Still, call us old romantics, but it would warm the heart to see an independent Williams & Glyn’s Bank, originally a 1970s amalgam of RBS’s English and Welsh brands, emerge from the radioactive rubble of the sector, as a quid pro quo for state aid to its former parent.