Commentator Clare Muldoon has launched a scathing attack on Labour Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ potential plans to scale back Cash ISAs, calling the move “abhorrent.”
Speaking to GB News, Muldoon expressed grave concerns about the impact on pensioners, who she says have “worked hard” and “paid tax” throughout their lives.
“People who are retired are the ones that have worked, paid tax, put things away, have less debt than anyone else,” Muldoon told GB News.
Clare Muldoon hit out at Chancellor Rachel Reeves’s alleged plans to target tax-free cash ISAs
GB News / PA
The Chancellor has been lobbied by City firms in recent weeks to redirect nearly £300billion currently held in Cash ISAs into the stock market.
However, Labour faces mounting pressure over its treatment of older citizens, with Muldoon fuming that the move would be “abhorrent” on top of winter fuel cuts already in place for pensioners.
Discussing the proposed raid on GB News, Muldoon warned that Labour’s changes would force Britons into “very risky” investment strategies.
“Why on earth when they’ve worked hard should their cash ISAs that are traditionally low risk” be changed, she questioned.
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Chancellor Rachel Reeves has been lobbied by City bosses in recent weeks about scaling back tax breaks on cash ISAs
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She highlighted that most retirees prefer low-risk investments “because they don’t have time on their hands to manage things.”
Muldoon pointed to the significant scale of Cash ISA usage, noting that “12 million cash ISAs are taken out a year.”
She suggested Labour’s targeting of ISAs was financially motivated: “I can see why she has got her eye on it.”
Major financial institutions have argued that the funds would generate better returns and support Labour’s growth agenda if moved into riskier equity investments.
Muldoon told GB News that the decision to implement the raid would be ‘abhorrent’
GB News
City Minister Emma Reynolds has already expressed concern that “hundreds of billions of pounds are sitting in Cash ISAs rather than being funnelled into the stock market.”
Andy Briggs of Phoenix Group is among those pushing for change, stating: “The state should not be giving a tax break for us all to park our money in cash.”
The Building Societies Association reports that almost half of Cash ISAs are held by people earning less than £20,000 annually.
The average savings balance in Cash ISAs stands at just under £13,400.