SCOTTISH Labour demanded today that Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) drop proposals for branch closures after it posted its first profit since a taxpayer bailout a decade ago.

The publicly owned bank recorded a £752 million profit for 2017, even after taking into account the £1.29 billion set aside to cover claims that it had mis-sold payment protection insurance and mortgage-backed securities before the financial crisis.

RBS chief executive Ross McEwan, who was paid a whopping £3.49m last year, warned that the bank faced a potentially multibillion-dollar settlement with the US Department of Justice over those securities sales.

But he said: “If you have a look at the underlying profitability of this bank, it is very good.”

In December, the bank — 72 per cent taxpayer-owned following a 2008 government bailout — announced that it was to shut 259 RBS and NatWest branches across Britain, putting up to 1,000 jobs at risk.

Bosses backtracked on the closure of Scottish 10 branches earlier this month, but the Unite union said that was only a “stay of execution.”

Unite staged a day of action against plans to shut 62 RBS branches across Scotland today, with protests held in Edinburgh, Aberdeen and elsewhere to urge the bank to reconsider the closures.

Labour’s shadow Scotland minister Lesley Laird called on RBS to completely abandon its plans in the light of the vast profits it has recorded.

Ms Laird said it was “increasingly clear that the taxpayers who bailed the bank out to the tune of £4bn are at the very bottom of their list of priorities.

“This year, we’ve seen announcements of local branch closures to save £9m while profits of £752m are posted by the company, the CEO’s salary hit £3 million and fat-cat bonuses have skyrocketed.

“In light of these profits, people will be increasingly angry that RBS plan to go ahead with branch closures. They should reverse these plans and keep the branches open.”

Unite's deputy Scotland secretary Mary Alexander told BBC Good Morning Scotland that the profits meant that  there was “even more reason” to stop the closures and proved that there was “no justification for RBS to take the axe to communities across Scotland.”