Clause 8
6:15 pm
Jeremy Browne (Taunton, Liberal Democrat)
I attach great importance to the simplicity of the scheme, because even generous schemes that are difficult to understand disincentivise all people, particularly those who are not familiar with financial products of that type. I take the Economic Secretary’s point; this was a useful short discussion. It would be simple to devise a better system with a more complicated mathematical formula, but we are dealing with regular human beings, rather than with people who might respond to circumstances that look good to a mathematician but might not work in the real world. The only caveat is that if, after two years with one of these accounts, people get into the savings habit, they might get a rude shock when they try to save with a normal institution and find that the system that they have become used to under the Government scheme does not apply in the real world of financial services. However, that is the Government’s decision. I beg to ask leave to withdraw the amendment.