Wealth

Lord Eatwell Excerpts

Monday 5th July 2010 Lords Chamber

[Lord Sassoon]

My Lords, I completely agree with my noble friend. The policy of this Government is to increase wealth across the wealth distribution for everybody.

[Lord Eatwell]

My Lords, does the Minister agree that one of the most important political ideas of the past 50 years is that of a property-owning democracy? Conservative thinkers must get due credit for the development of that idea. Why, then, have the Government abolished child trust funds, the first measure in the history of this country to give every child a stake in the wealth of the nation?

[Lord Sassoon]

My Lords, there are simply some measures that, in the present fiscal position, are unaffordable. The child trust fund, regrettably, falls into that category. However, to ensure that children at greatest risk are protected, we have introduced above-indexation rises in child tax credit. If noble Lords look at the new tables set out in the Budget document on pages 64 to 70, they will see that the effect is progressive across all income bands.