Pressure on banks and building societies to pass on interest rate cuts appear to be paying off, after the Chan- cellor of the Exchequer personally intervened.

Alistair Darling summoned the bosses of the major banks to Downing Street and told them in no uncertain terms to pass on the 1.5 per cent interest rate cut to customers "as quickly as possible".

And the move appeared to be having an affect, with the Swindon based Nationwide announcing it would pass on the full 1.5 per cent cut to customers on standard variable rate mortgages yesterday afternoon.

The Nationwide was swiftly followed by the Royal Bank of Scotland and NatWest who both said they would pas on the full 1.5 per cent cut.

The heads of all high street lenders were summoned to a breakfast meeting at the Treasury at which they were urged to drop mortgage rates.

Yesterday the rate at which banks lend to each other for three months – key for pricing mortgages – fell by more than one per cent to 4.496 per cent, adding even more pressure on the lenders.

However, the figure still stands almost 1.5 per cent higher than the Bank of England's official three per cent interest rate.

The meeting followed the shock move by the Bank of England to slash the bank base rate by 1.5 per cent to three per cent – the lowest it has been in more than 50 years.

It came amid a chorus of calls for banks to pass on the good news to mortgage holders with immediate effect.

Tory leader David Cam- eron said: "The interest rate should be passed on. If they do not, further action may be necessary."

He added: "The Government owns some of these banks now, so they can take steps."

A host of banks and building societies rushed to withdraw their tracker deals from the market following Thursday's dramatic intervention.

Until yesterday afternoon Lloyds TSB and Abbey were the only lenders to drop standard variable rates.

Others appear wary of committing themselves to interest rate cuts while the Libor (London Interbank Offered Rate) – the rate at which banks lend to each other – remains high and with a recession just around the corner.

Halifax, the UK's largest mortgage lender, said it was still considering its options.

Banks were reluctant to say who attended the meeting with the Chancellor, but sources close to the talks said the chief executives of all the main lenders were present.

John McFall, chairman of the Treasury Select Committee, said it was time that banks acknowledged their "social responsibility''.

He said: "They are being short-sighted.

"Given that they have had copious amounts of money from the taxpayer, and are fully guaranteed, it must dawn on them that they have a social responsibility as well.

"The pressure on them will be maintained until they acknowledge that responsibility."