The Bank of England will publish stress test results for seven of Britain’s major banks tomorrow, which will put the spotlight on Royal Bank of Scotland now the government has revived plans to sell its majority stake.

RBS failed the stress test a year ago and had to cut costs and sell assets worth £2 billion to plug a capital shortfall.

“As in prior years, RBS will be on the watch list,” said Rob Smith, a partner at consultants KPMG.

“While we think they will fare better than in the 2016 exercise, it is likely to be a close call. However, it should be noted the positive effect of the improved capital position over 2017 is not reflected in the results,” Smith said.

The Bank has said it will consider any steps banks have taken to strengthen their capital positions since the end of 2016 before deciding on any actions they must take.

The tests aim to show if banks have strong enough balance sheets to withstand an economic crisis.

RBS, along with Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds, Santander UK, Standard Chartered and the Nationwide building society must show they would still hold enough capital to avoid a bailout after undergoing theoretical market shocks spanning five years.

The shocks include a big drop in the pound and growth, and sharp rises in unemployment and loan defaults.

All have a bespoke basic hurdle to pass, but RBS, Barclays, HSBC and Standard Chartered must also leap a higher “systemic” hurdle because they are bigger banks.