Lord Mayor Alastair King calls for ISA reform to boost investment into UK equities

Mansion House speech

Alastair King, Lord Mayor of the City of London, has called for the chancellor to reconsider the model for individual savings accounts to bolster investment into UK equities.

In his Mansion House speech on Thursday (14 November), King, who was elected the 696th Lord Mayor in late September, suggested conditioning a "full tax break" on ISAs by having account holders invest in UK companies. This move, according to him, would align the regime with other competitors on the market. "When the forerunner of ISAs was introduced, the deal was simple: in return for favourable tax treatment, investors put their money into UK equities," he said. "It is time to look at that model once again – not mandating anything but saying that if you want your full tax break, yo...