I read on the front page of the Telegraph that George Osborne will give savers a better deal – “restoring a savings culture to the heart of the economy”.
The shadow chancellor wants to help people save by enrolling workers into pensions, restoring the link between the state pension and average earnings and helping savers who have been hit by the abolition of the dividend tax credit for pension funds.
I thought the whole premise of Osborne’s economic policy had been to cut the deficit to keep interest rates low – the single most damaging factor for anyone with large amounts of savings. Shurely shome mishtake?
UPDATE
Labour helpfully remind me that David Cameron promised in January 2009 to cut taxes on savings by £4.1bn to turn Britain into a “save, save, save society”. But last month the Tories admitted it was no longer a firm policy (“a pledge we made last year” and “not something we can currently pledge to do”).
Expect more of this knockabout “your promises are more feeble than ours” stuff ahead of the general election.
Jim Pickard
Kiran Stacey