Clause 37
Finance Bill
4:30 pm
Mark Hoban (Shadow Minister, Treasury; Fareham, Conservative)
I am sure that when the announcement on the matter was spun, back in October, it was not a benign gesture by the Government to encourage people to put their money back into other providers. It was pretty much aimed at encouraging people to put their money back into Northern Rock, since the retail deposit base was a key factor in its problems. It was a way of rebuilding the Rock.
I am grateful to the Minister for suggesting that information on the deposit base might be in the business plan. The only problem is that so far we have been denied sight of the business plan, so that was not a satisfactory answer. Also, I would have thought that there would be a tax cost if people were unable to redeposit money into ISAs. Under normal circumstances, there would have been a tax saving to the Government from the money coming out, because people could not reinvest it in ISAs.
The Minister’s answers were not particularly satisfactory, but we do not wish to deny tax relief to people who have already suffered uncertainty as a result of the problems of Northern Rock and how the lender of last resort was handled. I therefore do not propose to vote against clause stand part.