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Saving Gateway Accounts Bill

It is a pleasure to close the debate, and I thank the right hon. and hon. Members who have contributed to it. I was pleased to hear that there is broad support for the Bill in all parts of the House, and I am grateful to Members for their support for the aims of kick-starting the saving habit among working-age people on lower incomes and promoting financial inclusion. The hon. Member for Broxbourne (Mr. Walker) was unexpectedly very enthusiastic about Government policy. He went so far as to say that the scheme was a ““pretty good idea””. Given my experience of him, that is about as good as it gets. The hon. Member for Weston-super-Mare (John Penrose) went further, saying that it was a ““great idea”” and a ““thoroughly good principle””. He went on to blot his copy book by seeking to claim that it was a Conservative idea, when it is clear to all concerned that it was originally launched for consultation by the Labour Government in 2001. It was not until after the second pilot was under way that the Conservative manifesto made the statement that he read out. I do not want to play silly games of who takes the credit for different ideas. The hon. Member for South-West Hertfordshire (Mr. Gauke) tempts me to talk about his party's credit guarantee scheme, which is modelled on the Government's guarantee scheme. People are not interested in party political bickering; they want to know not where ideas come from, but whether they will produce policies that will benefit people and businesses in this country, and that is what the Government want to ensure. I welcome the support of the official Opposition and the Liberal Democrats for the Bill. The hon. Member for Fareham (Mr. Hoban) was perhaps more measured than most speakers in saying that there is some common ground, but the hon. Member for South-West Hertfordshire went further and said that the Bill's objectives are admirable and that it is laudable. As that came from an Opposition Front Bencher, it is a ringing endorsement of our proposals. The right hon. Member for Wokingham (Mr. Redwood) played a typical cameo role in pretending that he knows what happens in government as a matter of course. As a former Secretary of State, he well knows the process of government, but he tries to pretend that Ministers talk to no one, and do not examine the evidence and or take such matters into account. I shall come to the points that he made, but before doing so and responding to other hon. Members, I want to make two general points. First, in 2007 net national saving as a percentage of gross domestic product was 3.4 per cent., which was close to the average since 1987 of 3.7 per cent. and much higher than the low of 1.1 per cent. recorded in 1992. That 3.4 per cent. level is close to the national savings ratio of Italy, and much higher than that of the United States. Secondly, the Bill is not the only means by which the Government are promoting saving. Almost one third of the adult population have individual savings accounts. We successfully launched child trust funds, and we recently welcomed the 4 millionth account. We have a significant financial inclusion agenda on which we made further announcements today, and I acknowledge the points made by the hon. Member for Broxbourne about the importance of financial inclusion and financial literacy. I welcome the speech made by my hon. Friend the Member for Luton, North (Kelvin Hopkins), who emphasised the importance of saving. We may not agree with all the policy implications of what he said, but he knows that the Government share his aspiration that people save more and that pensioners have a greater income in retirement.