news story

6th May 2009

MP Puts Local Residents' Question to Prime Minister

Click here to read the exchange between Steve Webb & Gordon Brown

Northavon MP Steve Webb has today pressed the Prime Minister in the House of Commons over the way that savers are being treated.  The MP raised the issue following consultation with thousands of local residents by e-mail and letter.  

The economy was the top issue raised, with the falling value of savings and low interest rates coming top among the concerns of local residents.  

Steve Webb told the Prime Minister that local people felt "betrayed" by the way the value of their savings had collapsed and by plummeting interest rates.   He asked the Prime Minister what message he had for constituents who now wondered why they had bothered to save.
 
The Prime Minister told MPs that the best way to help savers was to keep a lid on inflation, which he said the Government had done for the last decade, and by raising limits on tax-free savings accounts, as had been done in the Budget.
 
Commenting, Steve Webb said:
 
"From the huge response to my consultation it is clear to me that local people feel very angry that after years of making sacrifices to put money by, the value of their savings has fallen dramatically.   Many now wish that they had never bothered.  

"The Prime Minister's response will do little to change their mind.   With soaring costs of food, fuel and council tax, few will believe that the Government has inflation under control, and small changes to tax-free savings rates will be of limited benefit.  

"I believe that the Government should provide guaranteed savings rates to those who are prepared to put money by, instead of penalising those who have saved".