Andrew Tyrie, the chairman of the Treasury Select Committee, is fond of asking “did that represent value for the money for the taxpayer?” when ministers and other public sector types appear before him to answer for their actions.

In these financially strained times that’s no bad thing, which brings us neatly to Lloyds Banking Group, and the way the Government has been selling off the taxpayer’s remaining shares.

It has just been announced that our stake in that institution has fallen below 7 per cent.

After being bailed out with £20.313bn of taxpayer’s cash during the financial crisis, we’re now within sight of the end of its reprivatisation.

That being the case, perhaps we should ask Mr Tyrie’s question.

Now, in August Hargreaves Lansdown, the broker, issued a report on the sale process, using figures from the most recent annual report from UK Financial Investments (UKFI), which manages the state’s stake and provides the Treasury with a fig leaf so it can interfere when it wants to.

It showed that the Government had made £16.571bn through selling Lloyds Banking Group shares.

It did this via two big one off sales at 75p apiece followed by the adoption of what was called the “trading plan” that has seen a steady drip feed of shares into the market. Up to 31 March that had achieved an average price of 81.4p.

Given the state’s break-even target, based on its initial investment, is 73.6p, the answer to whether those sales represented value for money is almost certainly yes.

However, Hargreaves Lansdown made a case for that target price being revisited in the wake of the profits the Government has made on our behalf.

The report highlighted that the Government received £3.198bn in fees and dividends from Lloyds. Its total investment net of those was therefore £17.115bn.

If you take away the £16.571bn from the sales detailed in the annual report, you’re then left with £544m, which Hargreaves said the Government could recoup by selling its remaining stake at just 8.4p a share, and less still after the payment of the most recent 0.75p dividend.

I’ve no argument with the maths, and the report made for a good read. But its conclusion misses one crucial point: would sales at that price represent good value for money?

Of course not, given that shares, even at their most recent 12-month low, have been trading at many times that price. When the Hargreaves Lansdown report was published they were trading at a shade above 55p.

So happy days, right? Even at that price Government would have made a handsome profit based on the report’s case.

True enough. But does selling at the depressed prices Lloyds has been trading at in recent months represent good value for money?

Well, no. Lloyds shares slumped in the wake of the Brexit vote, and no wonder. The bank’s fortunes are closely linked to those of the UK economy and the UK economy is going to take a kicking from that piece of stupidity.

The Government, or its UKFI creature, had no pressing need to sell into the depressed market for Lloyds shares that the EU referendum created. But it carried on regardless, as the below 7 per cent announcement shows.

Since their post referendum kicking the shares have recovered to something close to 62p.

Business news: In pictures Show all 13 1 /13 Business news: In pictures Business news: In pictures Flybe collapses Airline Flybe has collapsed. All future flights on the Exeter-based airline have been cancelled – leaving more than 2,300 staff facing an uncertain future, and wrecking the travel plans of hundreds of thousands of passengers. The chief executive, Mark Anderson, said: “Europe’s largest independent regional airline has been unable to overcome significant funding challenges to its business. AFP via Getty Business news: In pictures Future product placement will be 'tailored to individual viewers' Marketing executives say that product placement in films and televison shows on streaming services such as Netflix may be tailored to individuals in future. For instance, if data shows that a viewer is a fan of pepsi, a billboard in the background of a shot would host an advert for pepsi, while for a viewer known to have different tastes it could be for Coca-Cola Paramount Business news: In pictures Corbyn wishes Amazon a happy birthday In a card sent to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos on the company's 25th birthday, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn writes: "You owe the British people millions in taxes that pay for the public services that we all rely on. Please pay your fair share" Business news: In pictures No deal, no tariffs The government has announced that it would slash almost all tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit. Notable exceptions include cars and meat, which will see tariffs in place to protect British farmers Getty Business news: In pictures Fingerprint payment NatWest is trialling a new bank card that will allow people to touch their hand to the card when paying rather than typing in a PIN number. The card will work by recognising the user's fingerprint NatWest/PA Wire Business news: In pictures Mahabis bust High-end slipper retailer Mahabis has gone into administration. 2 Jan 2019 Mahabis Business news: In pictures Costa Cola Coca-Cola has paid £3.9bn for Costa Coffee. A cafe chain is a new venture for the global soft drinks giant PA Business news: In pictures RIP Payday Loans A funeral procession for payday loans was held in London on September 2. The future of pay day lenders is in doubt after Wonga, Britain's biggest, went into administration on August 30 PA Business news: In pictures Musk irks investors and directors Elon Musk has concluded that Tesla will remain public. Investors and company directors were angry at Musk for tweeting unexpectedly that he was considering taking Tesla private and share prices had taken a tumble in the following weeks Getty Business news: In pictures Jaguar warning Iconic British car maker Jaguar Land Rover warned on July 5, 2018 that a "bad" Brexit deal could jeopardise planned investment of more than $100 billion, upping corporate pressure as the government heads into crucial talks AFP/Getty Business news: In pictures Spotif-IPO Spotify traded publically for the first time on the New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday. However, the company isn't issuing shares, but rather, shares held by Spotify's private investors will be sold AFP/Getty Business news: In pictures French blue passports The deadline to award a contract to make blue British passports after Brexit has been extended by two weeks following a request by bidder De La Rue. The move comes after anger at the announcement British passports would be produced by Franco-Dutch firm Gemalto when De La Rue’s contract ends in July. The British firm said Gemalto was chosen only because it undercut the competition, but the UK company also admitted that it was not the cheapest choice in the tendering process. Business news: In pictures Beast from the east economic impact The Beast from the East wiped £4m off of Flybe’s revenues due to flight cancellations, airport closures and delays, according to the budget airline’s estimates. Flybe said it cancelled 994 flights in the three months to 31 March, compared to 372 in the same period last year.

While the outlook remains uncertain, the bank has made some reassuring noises about margins and capital generation.

I wouldn’t be rushing out to buy the stock. But it was clearly over sold in reaction to the result of the EU referendum, and there’s certainly a strong argument that the Treasury, or UKFI, should have suspended the trading plan in its wake.