Council pension funds have urged shareholders in Barclays Bank to block approval of the firm's remuneration report amid snowballing concern over a £5.7m 'tax equalisation' payment made to chief executive Bob Diamond.

The Local Authority Pension Fund Forum, which represents 50 council funds with around £100bn of assets, has formally issued a voting alert to its members requesting that they reject approval of the report at Barclays AGM on 27 April.