Man Widdecombe reckons that Stephen Williams is hatstand. The cunning plan, apparently, is to give away shares in RBS and Lloyds.
Senior Liberal Democrats want the government to give away billions of pounds of its shares in Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Banking Group to the general public.
The radical idea would see most of its stake in the banks shared between 46 million adults on the electoral roll.
A floor would be set so the shares could not be sold until they had passed the price paid by the government.
Individuals would only keep any gains made above that floor price.
Actually, it isn’t Williams’ idea, it is the brainchild of Portman Capital. I can see the appeal, but I’m not convinced that it’s such a good wheeze. It assumes that the price of the shares will rise and therefore shareholders can make a profit. As it is, the shares are meaningless and unless they rise significantly so that a decent return can be raised, they will remain meaningless. The success of the scheme relies on people wanting to hold shares – what if they don’t? What if they can’t give them away?
At current prices, every adult would receive shares worth just under £1,000.
That’s just it, they aren’t worth just under £1000 if you can’t sell them on. If they rise over a couple of years to just over £1000 then they are worth only that difference. So, what’s in it for us? The gamble that we might make a couple of bob. Wow, colour me unimpressed. Okay, I could be wrong and they could double or triple in value, in which case it would be a worthwhile investment – money for nothing.
I’m inclined to agree with MW. The treasury on behalf of the taxpayer bought the shares and when the time is right, the taxpayer should benefit from selling them at a profit via the same means.