Shares in British banks were up on the FTSE 100 in morning trading as Greece looked set to pass a series of austerity measures aimed at preventing a default.

The Greek parliament will today vote today on the five year austerity plan, with further technical votes due tomorrow.

While the austerity measures, which are necessary for Greece to receive its bailout money from the EU and IMF, are expected to pass they have prompted severe unrest in the country.

Opinion polls suggest that 70 to 80 per cent of the Greek population are against the measures and thousands turned out yesterday for protests, sometimes violent, against austerity.

Despite this hopes that the vote will bring stabilisation, if not resolution, to the Greek debt crisis appeared to help British banking shares.

By 10:05 shares in Lloyds Banking Group were up 1.44 per cent to 44.80 pence per share, RBS shares rose 0.11 per cent to 36.59 pence per share, Barclays shares climbed 2.23 per cent to 247.35 pence per share and HSBC shares increased 0.48 per cent to 611.10 pence per share.

Overall the FTSE 100 was up 1.00 per cent to 5,824.63.