Child Trust Funds

Wasted a vote on the Lib Dems.  Wish I hadn't voted at all now.  Srapping the Children's Trust Funds is a stupid act and should not be allowed to happen.  All parents should be encouraged to open a savings fund for their children - perhaps forced to by law.  This just gives out the wrong message entirely.  I want to know how many millions aside from the £250 initial start-up contribution by the Government has been saved by parents so far when otherwise, they wouldn't have saved anything at all.  This is the real loss.  There will now be millions and billions of potential savings lost because the new Government is saying 'don't bother'.

How is the country supposed to grow into a national of savers, not borrowers with this knee-jerk reaction from a Government hell bent on trying to score points.  Surely it would have been better to continue the scheme but save the money in other ways?

Of course it is futile to give away borrowed money but the principle of save-not-spend is still crucially important to instil in parents.  We need to break the habit of borrowing and worrying about the debt later.  The funds must go on even if there is no voucher on offer.  As well as the zero tax incentive, what about allowing those who work to pay money into their CTFs directly from their pay and gaining 'double' tax savings in the process?  Maybe the Government could offer a terminal bonus payment based on the amount saved rather than the initial voucher to invest?  Maybe a percentage of the amount saved at 18 years could be automatically invested on into a pension scheme which isn't accessible until the age of 65?  If it were all invested into a pension scheme, there could be a benefit much later in life - say at 65 years?  Surely this would be enough time for the Government to pay off the deficit and start rewarding those who were proven life-long savers?

I only voted Lib Dem because there was no way a Labour vote would have counted in my constituency.  If I knew my vote counted towards a national total rather than being 'wiped out' by a first past the post local constituency winner, I would have voted differently.  I wonder how many other people felt like me?

Working for the public sector, I now fear for my job.  I would be willing to take a pay freeze or a pay cut to assist in the reduction of the national debt if it meant not actually loosing my job altogether.  I think this attitude show the short sightedness that Gordon Brown warned us against.  We will have a double-dip recession , people will be out of work like never before and I don't think this new Government will know how to deal with 5 or 6 million people on the dole in 18 months time.

Not a good start.