Government gives tax break to former Northern Rock savers

I am in a little bit of a bad mood this lunchtime, as such the tiniest little thing is causing me to bloe my top slightly more than I normally do. Rather than simply wailing at the sky I now scream and think about buying a gun. Imagine therefore my blood pressure when I read this.

The Economic Secretary, Kitty Ussher, today announced that the Government would allow people who during the recent financial market disruption withdrew cash from Individual Savings Accounts (ISAs) held at Northern Rock - and in the process lost their tax advantages - to re-deposit that money into a cash ISA with Northern Rock or any other provider, restoring their tax advantages.

So hang on a second. Somebody panic withdraws their tax-free savings of their own volition, and the Government gives them a tax break effectively saying

"That's OK Mr Smith, you can pay it back in and we won't tax it again. Actually, you can pay it back in anywhere you damn well please and we'll let you off even though you chose to withdraw the funds when we told you that you didn't need to panic withdraw anything."

If I go to my bank tomorrow and withdraw my funds in a fit of panic can I go to the Government and ask for such a tax break? Can I hell as like. They will tell me that I shouldn't have been so silly, even though they told all those people who had money in Northern Rock precisely that whilst they queued along the streets. It gets better though, according to Kitty Ussher this move is,

[t]o ensure that Northern Rock ISA savers are not penalised by the financial instability in the market."

What about the rest of us that might lose out in the future and get penalised by "financial instability in the market", are they going to underwrite that? When I go into negative equity if the housing market crashes is Kitty going to come rushing to the rescue and ensure that I and everyone else with mortgages are not "penalised by the financial instability in the market"? Of course she isn't.

What's more, there were people withdrawing up to a million pounds of savings from Northern Rock, are these not the very same people that the Government keeps on insisting don't deserve tax breaks? Arse, face, about, angry.