Labor is dithering on NatWest’s share sale plan, saying it will ‘review the details’ if it wins the election
Labor has refused to commit to NatWest’s share sale, saying it will ‘look at the details’ if the party wins the general election.
In a blow to the bank and ordinary investors, the sale scheduled for later this summer has been put on hold until after the July 4 vote.
It would have been the biggest sell-out to the public since Royal Mail floated in 2013.
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt had commissioned M&C Saatchi to launch a 1980s-style ‘Tell Sid’ advertising campaign to boost investment in the London stock market.
But it will now be up to the next government to decide whether to revive sales.
Postponed: The sale of the government’s remaining stake in Nat West has been put on hold until after the July 4 vote
A Labor Party spokesman said: ‘Labour will look at the details as we form the next government after the general election.
“All decisions we make will be about ensuring value for money for taxpayers and investors.”
The government still owns a 27 percent stake in NatWest after bailing out the lender during the 2008 financial crisis. At its peak, taxpayers owned 84 percent of the bank.
Hunt unveiled plans to sell the state’s stake to private investors in the spring budget.
Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets at investment platform Hargreaves Lansdown, said: ‘Schemes like this have the power to encourage new investors, so we hope this will be revisited by whoever wins the election.’
Dan Coatsworth, investment analyst at estate agent AJ Bell, said it was “vital” that Sir Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves went ahead with the plan.
Ceasing sales is “a missed opportunity to encourage more people to develop long-term savings and investment habits,” he added.
Meanwhile, Will Howlett, financial analyst at asset manager Quilter Cheviot, said that while Labor has a history of public ownership, “it is likely to want to take the shares off the public books soon.”
“It would indeed be symbolic if a new Labor government sold the shares as NatWest had effectively been placed under government control by the previous Labor government,” he said.
However, he added: ‘It could be that Labor simply continues with the existing trading plan in the short term, keeping all its options open until it has fully assessed the holding company and is in a position to make actual decisions.’
NatWest shares rose 0.6 per cent, or 1.9p, to 309.4p yesterday.