Clause 2 - Eligible children
Child Trust Funds Bill
10:45 am
Mr Peter Atkinson (Hexham, Conservative)
What the hon. Member for Yeovil says is true: people are extremely irrational about their savings—and that does not just apply to the House of Commons staff who do not collect their free pension contributions. Many people hold on to mortgages that are vastly more expensive than is necessary, even when they could change them quite happily and save many thousands of pounds a year. I support the proposal made by my hon. Friend the Member for Tatton because his scheme has the advantage of simplicity. People will put little sums of money into accounts when it is convenient to do so.
I speak from experience, but I come to the subject from a slightly different angle. Unlike the Financial Secretary or my hon. Friend, I have no vested interest. My children are grown up—although the bad news is that they still cost me quite a lot of money. The Financial Secretary and my hon. Friend think that when their children are mature that is the end of it, but it certainly is not. If only I had had the opportunity to contribute to something like this. If the Government get their way, the cost of university education will go up and up, so this sort of nest egg will be valuable to people. It is important that such schemes are open to everybody, so that when they mature, they will provide a considerable sum to help pay for university education, although there may not be £35,000.