This month, the first young people in Llanelli to benefit from Child Trust Funds turn 18 and can access the money put aside for them by the last Labour Government for the first time.
Here in Llanelli alone, 7,765 Child Trust Fund accounts were created. I don’t want any 18 year old to miss out on their child trust fund which is rightfully theirs.
For every child born after 1 September 2002, until David Cameron’s Tories axed the scheme in 2011, the Labour Government put at least £250 aside for them. The money went into an account their parents could open using a voucher sent out by the government. For children whose parents didn’t use their voucher, the government set up an account for them. Parents, grandparents and others could top up the account too.
The idea was simple. People with access to savings have long had the ability to put down a deposit on a flat, buy a car, start a business or whatever else they choose to do with that money. Labour wanted to extend to every young person the options that wealthier families took for granted.
Every trust fund, and every choice it enables or makes easier, is a reminder of the difference a Labour government can make.