The UK Government has sold more share in Lloyds Banking Group, reducing its stake to less than 5%.

UK Financial Investments, which manages the stake in Lloyds and RBS, cut its holding by about 1%.

The taxpayer’s share in the bank now stands at 4.99%.

More than £18.5bn has been returned to the Treasury since the lender’s £20 billion bailout, which gave it a 43% stake in the business.