HC Deb 13 February 1992 vol 203 c1104
17. Mr. Oppenheim

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement of his policy on the level of savings.

Mr. Norman Lamont

The Government aim to secure an appropriate climate in which people can plan sensibly for the future, making their own decisions about what to save and what to spend.

Mr. Oppenheim

Would not a policy of clobbering savers with an investment surcharge reduce savings and so reduce the pool of available investment capital for manufacturing industry? Do not such policies illustrate the fact that no amount of tacky red plastic roses, sharp suits or slick public relations can disguise how little Labour has really changed?

Mr. Lamont

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. Labour Members talk all the time about the need for investment. Investment is financed out of saving and the last way in which the level of savings can possibly be increased is by the imposition of extra taxes on it.