The importance of investing in our children’s future is more crucial now then ever before. We as adults realise the importance of saving and managing our own finances and the Child Trust Fund now allows us to do this for our children. The benefit of the scheme introduced for all children born on or after 1st September 2002 enables us to give our children a financial start moving into adult life as well as teaching them the value in saving money from an early age. This highly successful Labour initiative is now under threat if the Conservative Party wins the next general election.
Children’s Mutual (one of the largest child trust fund providers in the UK) describe the scheme as “the most successful savings product ever” with more than 2 million parents contributing to their children’s fund every month. In my constituency alone since the scheme began 5,720 accounts have been opened of which 3,892 have been taken out in accounts of parent’s choice and have enabled parents the chance to build a financially stable future for their children with the ability to pay up to £1200 on a yearly basis in to the fund with the added benefit of almost two decades of interest on top of this.
The Conservative Party want to change this; they believe that creating a solid financial base for all children moving in to adulthood is “a luxury we can longer afford” whilst their plan to introduce an inheritance tax that will only be to the benefit of 2% of the population whilst 900,000 children will lose out each year.
This policy will hit the hard working average family the most that forms the backbone of the UK whilst inheritance tax will potentially only benefit Britain’s wealthiest people.
The results of the proposed cut of the Child Trust Fund by the Tories means that families earning over £16,040 will lose out on over £1,000 whilst people who stand to inherit a £1 million estate will gain an estimated £200,000, this simply is not right and is Conservative elitism at the expense of the majority of hard working families in the UK.
I am encouraging my constituents here in Birmingham Northfield to join me in dispelling Conservative ignorance and backing a campaign to support the Child Trust Fund and protect our children’s futures.
