Gosling's Grouse: Yes (Wealth) Minister

Yes (Wealth) Minister

When did financial services become so politicised? We hear the Labour Party talking about ‘raiding' higher rate pensions tax relief to prop up the NHS, and the current Chancellor seems to pull a rabbit out of the hat almost every week.

First we had pensions freedoms, and now we have the second-hand annuities opportunity hard on the heels of the ‘granny bond’ giveaway, which just happens to run until shortly after the election. The reality is financial services have always been politicised, whether it was Conservative Chancellor Nigel Lawson getting rid of LAPR (life assurance premium relief, for our younger readers) or Mrs Thatcher’s introduction of the personal pension. Then we had Gordon Brown introducing ISAs, while at the same time ‘raiding’ pension funds and taking away the ability to reclaim dividend tax relie...