Clause 13
Saving Gateway Accounts Bill
9:00 am
Stephen Ladyman (South Thanet, Labour)
The hon. Gentleman may be right and I may have misread the clause. My purpose was to explore the Government’s attitude to whether these accounts should provide interest to the saver. That is what I hope the Economic Secretary will refer to.
One of our expert witnesses told us that they regarded it as essential that these accounts should pay interest to the saver because otherwise the saver would not become inculcated with the idea that money put into a bank account earns interest. Another expert witness told us that these accounts would generate a market of around £250 million. If the banks used that money for their personal loan businesses—