Minister says save more, spend less
THE ECONOMY needs more thrifty savers and fewer debt-fuelled splurges, Treasury minister Andrea Leadsom said yesterday.
She called for more competition in the banking market, as well as a new drive to promote financial education.
Banks and building societies “help people fulfil their ambitions – whether that’s buying your first house, saving up for a holiday or investing in your children and grandchildren’s education”, she told the Building Societies Association’s (BSA) annual conference. “I stress the phrase ‘saving up’. We want to incentivise a savings society, where people’s first instinct is to save up for things they want, rather than putting them on the never-never.”
Leadsom pointed to the increased ISA limit which brought more savings out of income tax, the increased range of ISA-eligible investments and the abolition of the 10 per cent tax on savings as evidence that she is encouraging saving.
Meanwhile, the BSA called for the government to encourage the establishment of new mutuals, to match the increase in new banks.