When Gordon Brown unveiled his plan to create individual savings accounts in 1997, the aim was to encourage thrift at a time when saving levels were low.
“Half the adult population of our country hardly save at all,” Brown, then chancellor, warned in his inaugural budget. “Through the new Isa we intend to encourage the habit of saving among people who have never saved before.”
Twenty-seven years later and the Isa has become a popular way for people to build their nest eggs, with £742 billion held in adult accounts as of 2022. With Isas booming, the government now wants to put the tax-free wrappers to another use: boosting the UK economy and saving the London stock market.
In his budget in March, Jeremy Hunt
