Brewin Dolphin, the largest independent investment manager for private investors in the UK, said the borrowing figures announced in the Budget were simply staggering and is concerned about the market’s appetite for £220 billion of gilts at this time. Absorbing this new strata of issuance is a huge concern for investors and its implications for sterling.

The firm is also shaken by implications for pension savers and the disincentive for higher earners to build their savings for the long term, a hit for the Life Assurance sector and not really assuaged by the welcome extension of ISA thresholds to £10,200 which have at last caught up with inflation.  But the two tier approach to ISAs – allowing the over 50s to use the increased allowance six months ahead of everyone else in October this year – is a complexity which will result in extra costs for ISA managers – when it would be fairer and more efficient to introduce it for all.

With interest rates at a record low, the Chancellor should have given savers more substantial help and grant a basic rate tax holiday on income from all savings for a year, to help investors recover their positions and restore faith in investing in equities.  Shareholders oil the wheels of economies. By investing in companies, shareholders spark enterprise, fund innovation and help businesses grow. Without shareholders’ capital, economies will grind to a halt and they have been given little encouragement in this Budget.

The Brewin Dolphin Group manages approximately £17 billion of funds for over 130,000 private clients and of this £9.5 billion is on a discretionary basis. Brewin Dolphin has 39 offices throughout the UK and Channel Islands and is a FTSE 250 listed company.

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For further information please call:

Charlotte Black

Head of Corporate Affairs

0845 213 3331

Beverley Lavin – Head of Financial Planning

0845 213 2633

Mike Lenhoff  - Chief Equity Strategist

0845 213 3360

Jonathan Newman – Analyst – House Builders and Life Assurance

0845 213 3361

Elaine Coverley – Analyst – Utilities and Green issues

0845 213 3355

Peter Smart - Analyst - Fixed interest markets

0779 7716 805