RADICAL? EVERYBODY'S DOIN' IT:

Plan to force debt-ridden Britons to save (TERESA HUNTER, 10/22/05, Scotland on Sunday)

A RADICAL bill to overhaul the savings landscape and encourage low-paid and moderate earners to invest for their future will be unveiled this week by the shadow work and pensions secretary Sir Malcolm Rifkind.

The Conservative MP believes Britain must roll back the barriers which are preventing a quarter of the workforce from tucking away any funds to pay for major life events, accidents or retirement.

His new Private Member's Bill, entitled 'Rights for Savers', will recommend the introduction of a new lifetime Savings and Retirement Account (Sara), which could be converted at retirement into a Canadian-style Retirement Income Fund (Rif), for those who wish to avoid buying an annuity.

Rifkind hopes to meet the government's pensions minister Stephen Timms before Friday's second reading of the bill in the House of Commons, in an attempt to win all-party backing for the proposals.

Given the scale of the savings crisis, the government may be willing to embrace new ideas.

Lifetime Savings Accounts sound familiar, eh? Australia's Left has already started collaborating with John Howard on the Third Way and David Cameron could push the Tories in that direction, which would leave only our Democrats out in the Cold and serve the nation poorly.

Posted by Orrin Judd at October 23, 2005 8:52 AM