Former Home Secretary Rt Hon David Blunkett MP has slammed the Lib Dem/Conservative coalition Government for axing the Child Trust Fund, calling it “an act of betrayal”.
Mr Blunkett was reacting to the announcement of public expenditure cuts in 2010-11 by George Osborne and David Laws. As part of their £6.2 billion of cuts, they announced the winding down and then total abolition of the Child Trust Fund by 1 January 2011.
The Fund, created in 2002, provides a nest egg for young people to access when they reach the age of 18, which both the Government and families can pay into. Payments are increased for children from the poorest backgrounds.
Mr Blunkett said: “In announcing the abolition of the Child Trust Fund, David Laws called them a ‘deception’. The real deception is to abolish a measure which provided young people from some of the most deprived backgrounds with hope for the future under the guise of cutting ‘wasteful spending’.”
He added: “For Liberal Democrats, who proclaim their belief in equality, abolishing the one long-term programme - other than Sure Start - which would narrow the gap between those who have and those who do not, is an act of betrayal.
“The Child Trust Fund, in addition to creating the most enormous savings habit by families who would never have been able to create an account for their child's future well-being, also tackled the so-often ignored asset gap which the property boom has exacerbated. Inequality in the future will be as much about those who find themselves with no assets, no inheritance and no nest egg to start out on their adult life, as it will be about the immediate income gap.
“In the most deprived areas, the default accounts set up for our children's future was the one hope that those doomed to intergenerational disadvantage might emerge at 18 with at least some chance of a deposit on a home, an opportunity to take advantage of higher education or the beginning of self-employment.
“At a stroke, the coalition has removed that opportunity from millions of our poorest youngsters. They should be ashamed of themselves.”
ENDS
Blunkett coalition should be ashamed of itself for axing child trust funds.. Super :)
Posted by: davidblunkett.typepad.com | 05/23/2011 at 04:23 PM