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The Bank of England has come under fire from leading Tory MPs and Elon Musk after advertising a £5,000-plus internship scheme that excludes white candidates.

The institution, which employs 4,000 people in Threadneedle Street, said one of its student internship schemes was only open to “black or mixed black heritage” candidates, meaning white or non-black candidates are unable to apply.

Under the programme, undergraduate students in their penultimate year of study receive £5,000 towards living costs, as well as an eight-week internship at the Bank paying £96.15 per day.

On Tuesday, leading Conservative MPs criticised the Bank for excluding non-black candidates from the scheme. They said it raises concerns about a leading public sector body failing to treat all its prospective applicants fairly.

Robert Jenrick, the former Tory leadership candidate, said: “It is deeply unfair that the Bank of England is engaging in race-based hiring.

“Our institutions need to stop dividing our country and return to meritocratic recruitment.”

Andrew Griffith, the shadow business secretary, said: “Discrimination based on the colour of someone’s skin is racism whichever direction it is in and the Bank of England should immediately cancel this terrible social-engineering plan or heads must roll.”

Tesla founder Elon Musk, a key ally of President Trump, also attacked the scheme, saying on his X platform that the internship was unfair and that “anti-white racism is still racism”.

The scheme, known as the Black Future Leaders Sponsorship Programme, is one of several internships the Bank offers, but the only one that provides at least £5,000 towards living costs for a year at university, in addition to a paid wage.

Rupert Lowe, the former Reform MP, has written to Andrew Bailey, governor of the Bank of England, accusing the Bank of running a “discriminatory scheme”.

“What message does this send to a bright, hard-working student who happens to be white? That the colour of their skin determines their opportunity?” the letter said.

A Bank of England spokesman said: “As a public institution whose duty is to serve all the people of this country, we seek to ensure that our workforce broadly reflects our society.

“With this in mind, we offer a variety of programmes and opportunities, of which the Black Future Leaders Sponsorship Programme is one. We are proud of our country.”

Initiatives to improve representation

The Bank’s initiative is designed to improve representation from black undergraduates within the banking and finance community.

Under its diversity policies, the Bank aims to have 5pc of managers and 10pc of graduates be black by 2028 – although it recently said it is behind on this target.

The Bank’s scheme has been caught up in an intensifying row over discriminatory hiring policies by public sector organisations.

In April, it emerged that NHS trusts have been manipulating shortlists in favour of black and ethnic minority backgrounds, while West Yorkshire Police also faced a backlash after it put a temporary block on applications from white Britons.

The backlash comes as more companies roll back their diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives after Mr Trump attacked DEI schemes in the US.

The president has signed a series of executive orders banning federal agencies and businesses with government contracts from having such initiatives, calling DEI “discriminatory”.

In the UK, companies scaling back their DEI schemes include drugmaker GSK, which said it would no longer set diversity targets, and telecoms giant BT, which scrapped diversity measures in its manager bonus.

In March, the Bank of England itself dropped proposals for rules that would have forced 42,000 UK businesses to report diversity and inclusion data collected on their employees, citing concerns over the regulatory costs and burdens involved.

The Bank became embroiled in the Black Lives Matter protests four years ago after it emerged it had owned two plantations and almost 600 slaves in Grenada in the 18th century.

It apologised and promised to remove any statues or portraits of figures involved.