Chancellor Alistair Darling today pledged Government help for about 300,000 UK savers with Icelandic Internet bank Icesave.

Depositors were left facing an anxious wait to find out whether they would get their money back after Icesave’s parent company Landsbanki was nationalised yesterday by the Reykjavik government.

Mr Darling said that he would be announcing measures to help British savers in the Commons later.

“I am very aware of the fact that Iceland has, sadly, chosen to default on its obligations here. We are pursuing Iceland and we will pursue it vigorously to make sure that we get the money due to us back,” he said.

“But in the meantime I am going to be able to help those savers who would otherwise have to look to Iceland to get their money back. I am prepared to stand behind them and to stand behind the depositors.

“It demonstrates my commitment to help people who have put money into banks in these exceptional circumstances.”

Customers with Icesave first learned there was something amiss when the group stopped people withdrawing money from their Internet accounts after Landsbanki was placed into receivership yesterday morning.

A statement on Icesave’s website said: “We are not currently processing any deposits or any withdrawal requests through our Icesave internet accounts.”

Landsbanki’s other UK business Heritable Bank has also stopped taking deposits or allowing consumer to make withdrawals.