Read more about this - and get more examples of how different rates impact the allowance on the blog becleverwithyourcash.com/will-you-pay-tax-on-your-savings/
Hi Andy, if exceeding the personal tax allowance is unavoidable/paying tax on some interest is the best option mathematically, how will the tax be calculated and charged (particularly if the interest is coming is from multiple different accounts)? Will HMRC get in touch after the end of the financial year?
Something to think about also is that if you do have a large amount in savings accounts and you are moving it around with increasing best rates, rates will likely be up enough next year that the extra you're making pays this years tax for you next year if you are on PAYE and they take it directly. Will be really interesting to see where savings rates go, surely the base rate has to go up considerably at some point right? I'm hearing projections of 18% inflation!! I suppose even at 1.75% that base rate is still pretty low relative to pre 2008 and quantitive easing, who knows!
Question: If someone earns £60k, but pays £10k into their pension to stay a basic rate tax payer, would they have an interest allowance of £500 or £1000? Put another way, can increased pension contributions be used to increase the interest allowance from £500 to £1000?
in your opinion how high will savings rates get to? with base rate at 1.75 the best i can see right now for monthly income is about 3.45 fixed over 5 years. with base rates forecast to reach 3 or 3.5 can you see an equivalent doubling in savings rates to 6 or 7 % or even more? have been keeping an eye on them the past few months and they were creeping up at snails pace but not moved at all recently. even when a base rate rise is announced not a lot seems to happen. oh well only been waiting for a decent return for 15 years...
@@BeCleverWithYourCash Thanks Andy. the way I look at it, split the 1k or 500 between 12 months and that's your target amount for interest each month. so £83.33 on 1k and £41.66 you can earn before paying tax.
I’ve started a high yielding online savings account at 4.5% I’m looking to save as much as possible in it but how and when do I get taxed on it if I don’t touch it for years does tax automatically come off or only when I lift that money out the account.
hey Andy, great summary on tax deductions on savings. Just to add, when you go over your tax free limit the % you go over will be deducted from your tax free personal allowance. I found it odd when I 1st read it some time ago. Also Andy could you tell me if I have £20k in an ISA then added another £20k in the new tax year would the interest be calculated for the full £40k for the next tax cycle?
Better than that. Let’s assume you have a Cash ISA with a 4.5% interest rate, then at the end of the first year your ISA is worth £20,900. Then you add your second £20,000 to make it £40,900. Assuming the rate remains at 4.5% you will earn that interest on the full £40,900. Meaning an ISA worth £42,740 and 50p at the end of year 2. This is compound interest - where you earn interest on your interest from previous years. Take it further to year 3 and add another £20k, taking the pot to £62,740.50. 4.5% on that brings back £65,563.82. Interest on interest on interest…
@@Banthah hey, thanks for taking the time to reply and good to know so when I have a year on my current ISA i can just add to it and not have to be annoyed by paying additional taxes. Thanks
Thanks for the video, Andy. As a future reference, It would be great to see how you did the calculations on what you must pay in terms of the personal allowance in the example given at 7:21. I know how you got the £1,200 but not the £218. If you could do that in all future videos that would be great and helpful like how you show a table to get to the required monetary figure. Nevertheless, thanks for the info.
It’s compounded, so you earn interest on the interest. I actually used a calculator which I’ve linked to in the blog post on this becleverwithyourcash.com/will-you-pay-tax-on-your-savings/
It you go over your PSA, will tax be deducted automatically? You don't need to inform the government with any tax docs right? I presume not... But if it is automatic and you have two accounts both have equal amount in them but the total goes over the allowance, who decides which account gets the less interest? The government?
I'm not entirely sure what counts as taxable savings. Do you know if interest generated by my current account (eg Nationwide FirstDirect's 5% rate), bank switching/sign up offers and credit card cashback/current account rewards (eg Halifax's monthly £5 reward) also count towards the £1000/£500 tax-free limit?
So this is just about interest. So interest in Current accounts does count. In terms of other rewards… normally no. Bank switching offers don’t, and credit card cashback doesn’t. But some “rewards” could be regarded by the bank as interest. Most don’t though.
I've never been in a position to earn enough interest to go over the allowance, but I'm wondering how the tax is taken if you do go over. Do you have to declare your interest earnings with a self assessment or is it automatically paid from your account?
from my understanding you have to declare it via self assessment if you are self employed but if like me you are permanently employed through the PAYE system they will automatically change you tax code the following year and the tax will be incorporated to you directly from your salary so nothing to think about unless you do your own accounts anyway! Hope this helps :)
When hmrc change your tax code. Is it strictly for your excess savings. I'm likely for the first time ever going to be about 2 to 3 hundred over. Thanks
Thank you very much for the very useful video Andy! Just a quick doubt as you mentioned regular savers to he careful, if someone has 2 regular savings account at the same times, both accounts in different banks giving actually pretty decent interest, is that something to be worried? Also, you are a basic 20%, 1250L tax payer, you can still have your £1000 tax free savings interest earned - can you work this out, just by adding the interest earned in all the non-ISA accounts in the tax year? And only the total exceeds £1000 from interest then you need to worry, don't you? I have found out from my government gateway account that 3 years ago, they taxed me on interest earned. And I am sure I wasn't near that £1000 allowance. So I guess I can verify this with them?
I earn a few hundred over the 50k tax threshold but have a work pension that is deducted from my salary before tax. This brings my taxable income well below the 40% threshold. Do i have a £1k interest allowance or £500. Because the pension contribution is so high I wont pay 40% tax on any earnings until about £56k
Good question mate- you need look at your figure on your p60 to confirm. But my understanding is you are right - pension rax relief brings your total income figure down. So if with this you are under the 50,270 you get the 1000 relief
Excellent video, thanks. However you do not ever explain how this tax is collected, how do the government know how much savings someone has? And how do the government collect it? Lots of people have asked this very question but you don’t answer it.
Hi Andy, if you say earned £49500 through salary and earned £1500 through interest in the same year in an none ISA account. Would your income for the year be £51000 pushing you in to the higher bracket? Or is interest earned not added to this? And the £1500 earned would be treat as basic tax payer
On a self assessment do you only declare interest if its over your personal savings allowance or starter savings rate (if below personal allowance on other income)
On the 6th of April 2024 I'm going to open a fixed saver for 1 year (12 months). I'm planning to put in £20,000 in it. Let's say for example the interest rate is 6%. My calculations is as follows would be by the time 5th of April 2025 arrives the account would have matured. I would receive £21,160. £20,000 + £1000 (not taxed) + £200 (£160 for me & £40 for taxman which is 20% of £200 that is over the £1000 limit. Are my calculations correct?
So to avoid paying tax on 20k savings you need to take the interest of 1k out each year otherwise it will start compounding and earn more year on year? Am I right on this?
How will tax on a stocks and shares isa work over £100k proposed by government? Due to stock market falls my investment is in deficit currently. Next year there may be a profit, the following year back to losses etc. seems like I may be better off leaving it in the bank earning no interest, no losses (other than inflation) and no tax to pay?
If the tax is taken through PAYE most basic rate tax payers will not notice the tax being taken. Does HMRC adjust the code or do they want the money in a lump sum? If there is a choice which route should one take?
Hi Andy Please can you advise My partner and I both don’t work however we invested our savings into the ns&i fixed for 1 year at 6.2% where it pays us the interest monthly £196,000 so approx £1.100 per month. Will we have to pay any tax on the interest at the end of the year ? Thanks
Hi Andy. Can you advice on a Personal allowance for residents in Scotland? From gov website: “the Scottish Parliament with the power to set the income tax rates and bands that apply to Scottish taxpayers’ Non-Savings, Non-Dividend (NSND) income. This excludes setting the Personal Allowance, which remains reserved, and is set by the UK Government at the UK Budget. “ Does it mean that the personal allowance is the same across the country?
please advise ! I don't know English, but I watched a couple of videos with subtitles and didn't understand anything 🤦♀️ I came from Ukraine and I plan to stay in England, I already have only one regular HSBC card for which I receive a salary ... I need 2 cards: 1. credit, to build a credit history, at a lower cost for me… 2. debit, so that I can freely use this money, but so that interest is charged on the rest of the money and I have cashback from purchases…. I'm afraid to take out any loans because I've only been here for 3 months and I can be refused, which is bad for my credit rating.. what do you recommend? Can you recommend something to me with the exact names of the map?
If you are on maternity leave for the whole tax year, earning only SMP, your earnings are below £12570 for that year. Does it mean you have £5000 tax free interest allowance?
Hi all Just to clarify matters given I've been sent my interest / tax for the 2023/2024 year. I'm due to pay £52.80 I have two options a) pay outright b) in the 2025/2026 tax year is is taken off in 12 installments from my pay. Hope this helps matters undertand how and when it goes out / paid
I’m currently just overpaying into my pension as I’m in higher rate, can you pay into a ISA and declare this as part of tax return to get back the extra tax I paid on income at higher rate?
Quick question. I am earning just over £1000 per annum on savings interest. I am a basic rate tax payer but only just. how do i pay tax on my savings. is it automatically taken or do i need to fill in a self assessment form. my understanding is your tax code is automatically changed. is this correct. and that you only have to fill in a self assessment form if you earn over £10,000
Been looking at 1 year bonds at 2.30% that mite go up if the bank increase the base rate in a few weeks time. I'd like to make £1000 py and get it paid monthly so be a nice £80 pm
I sold my house 6 months ago and am travelling for a year or so so have a large chunk in various savings accounts and £50k in PB so will be earning around £12k interest this year …. Any better suggestions to pay less tax?.
@@BeCleverWithYourCash I working but Im director of my own company and only pay myself bare minimum on Paye.. I guess could draw less dividend this year if that would help?
Money saving expert have daily updated tables, I don't think fixing for five years is a good idea at the moment, I personally wouldn't do more than a year now.
As a self employed worker in the construction industry, do I need to submit in my annual tax return, any interest earned earned on non isa accounts, regardless of whether I've earnt over £1000 of interest or not??
Do joint accounts have twice the allowance? So if my wife and I are both basic rate tax payers would we get £1000 each tax free, or should we split the money into 2 separate accounts?
hi could you help me and confirm something,i earn about 7k now i work part time. how much can i earn on interest without paying tax. i am i correct on saying approx 10 k on saving without paying tax thank you
Yeah so if I’m not misunderstanding; you can for instance have a fixed rate bond that earns up to 1K interest per year (say, 20,000 at 5%), and an ISA that earns 500+ interest per year, without paying tax. Personal saving allowance doesn’t impact ISAs🤔
Tax on our savings now. Fuck this Just blow all ur money on a holiday spunk it away get a massive loan enjoy ur life for a couple years in another country then end it when shit hits the fan.
Read more about this - and get more examples of how different rates impact the allowance on the blog becleverwithyourcash.com/will-you-pay-tax-on-your-savings/
Can you make a video explaining how you pay taxes on your savings earnings? Do you need to declare them or does the government tax you automatically?
Yes it’s a bit of a mystery. Do we need to self assess?
You’d need to complete a self assessment. If you don’t you may end up with a penalty.
If you pay tax by PAYE then you need do nothing as tax is collected by your tax code.
Hi Andy, if exceeding the personal tax allowance is unavoidable/paying tax on some interest is the best option mathematically, how will the tax be calculated and charged (particularly if the interest is coming is from multiple different accounts)? Will HMRC get in touch after the end of the financial year?
Something to think about also is that if you do have a large amount in savings accounts and you are moving it around with increasing best rates, rates will likely be up enough next year that the extra you're making pays this years tax for you next year if you are on PAYE and they take it directly. Will be really interesting to see where savings rates go, surely the base rate has to go up considerably at some point right? I'm hearing projections of 18% inflation!! I suppose even at 1.75% that base rate is still pretty low relative to pre 2008 and quantitive easing, who knows!
The best way to save money is to pay down on your mortgage. The interest rate on SRV is around 4.5%. However, you cannot withdraw the money from it
Gosh Andy, you have explained this so well and it has been a real eyeopener. Much appreciated. Thank you
Hi, just wondering how the money that goes over the threshold is collected by hmrc ?
Question: If someone earns £60k, but pays £10k into their pension to stay a basic rate tax payer, would they have an interest allowance of £500 or £1000? Put another way, can increased pension contributions be used to increase the interest allowance from £500 to £1000?
in your opinion how high will savings rates get to? with base rate at 1.75 the best i can see right now for monthly income is about 3.45 fixed over 5 years. with base rates forecast to reach 3 or 3.5 can you see an equivalent doubling in savings rates to 6 or 7 % or even more?
have been keeping an eye on them the past few months and they were creeping up at snails pace but not moved at all recently. even when a base rate rise is announced not a lot seems to happen. oh well only been waiting for a decent return for 15 years...
Thanks for the updates Andy. Nice to see a ready reckoner graph. Not always easy to work out.
There’s a more detailed chart on the blog!
@@BeCleverWithYourCash Thanks Andy. the way I look at it, split the 1k or 500 between 12 months and that's your target amount for interest each month. so £83.33 on 1k and £41.66 you can earn before paying tax.
great timing literally was googling this yesterday
👍
I’ve started a high yielding online savings account at 4.5% I’m looking to save as much as possible in it but how and when do I get taxed on it if I don’t touch it for years does tax automatically come off or only when I lift that money out the account.
What’s the tax implication if I am a house person and if I do earn interest from my savings, say for over 1000. Do I need to pay tax as well? Thanks
hey Andy, great summary on tax deductions on savings. Just to add, when you go over your tax free limit the % you go over will be deducted from your tax free personal allowance. I found it odd when I 1st read it some time ago.
Also Andy could you tell me if I have £20k in an ISA then added another £20k in the new tax year would the interest be calculated for the full £40k for the next tax cycle?
Better than that.
Let’s assume you have a Cash ISA with a 4.5% interest rate, then at the end of the first year your ISA is worth £20,900. Then you add your second £20,000 to make it £40,900. Assuming the rate remains at 4.5% you will earn that interest on the full £40,900. Meaning an ISA worth £42,740 and 50p at the end of year 2. This is compound interest - where you earn interest on your interest from previous years. Take it further to year 3 and add another £20k, taking the pot to £62,740.50. 4.5% on that brings back £65,563.82.
Interest on interest on interest…
@@Banthah hey, thanks for taking the time to reply and good to know so when I have a year on my current ISA i can just add to it and not have to be annoyed by paying additional taxes. Thanks
Thanks for the video, Andy.
As a future reference, It would be great to see how you did the calculations on what you must pay in terms of the personal allowance in the example given at 7:21. I know how you got the £1,200 but not the £218. If you could do that in all future videos that would be great and helpful like how you show a table to get to the required monetary figure.
Nevertheless, thanks for the info.
It’s compounded, so you earn interest on the interest. I actually used a calculator which I’ve linked to in the blog post on this becleverwithyourcash.com/will-you-pay-tax-on-your-savings/
The interest is compounded. If you want to work it out do 20000(1.03/1)^2 and you’ll get 21218
How does the government even find out about your taxes? what if i dont declare the earnings?
Great video Andy, watched loads of videos recently and yours was the most helpful. Many thanks and have a great Christmas
It you go over your PSA, will tax be deducted automatically? You don't need to inform the government with any tax docs right? I presume not...
But if it is automatic and you have two accounts both have equal amount in them but the total goes over the allowance, who decides which account gets the less interest? The government?
I'm not entirely sure what counts as taxable savings. Do you know if interest generated by my current account (eg Nationwide FirstDirect's 5% rate), bank switching/sign up offers and credit card cashback/current account rewards (eg Halifax's monthly £5 reward) also count towards the £1000/£500 tax-free limit?
So this is just about interest. So interest in Current accounts does count. In terms of other rewards… normally no. Bank switching offers don’t, and credit card cashback doesn’t. But some “rewards” could be regarded by the bank as interest. Most don’t though.
I've never been in a position to earn enough interest to go over the allowance, but I'm wondering how the tax is taken if you do go over. Do you have to declare your interest earnings with a self assessment or is it automatically paid from your account?
from my understanding you have to declare it via self assessment if you are self employed but if like me you are permanently employed through the PAYE system they will automatically change you tax code the following year and the tax will be incorporated to you directly from your salary so nothing to think about unless you do your own accounts anyway! Hope this helps :)
Yep, the comment below is correct.
@@lolmeercatz10 thanks, that makes life easier
When hmrc change your tax code. Is it strictly for your excess savings. I'm likely for the first time ever going to be about 2 to 3 hundred over. Thanks
Thank you very much for the very useful video Andy! Just a quick doubt as you mentioned regular savers to he careful, if someone has 2 regular savings account at the same times, both accounts in different banks giving actually pretty decent interest, is that something to be worried?
Also, you are a basic 20%, 1250L tax payer, you can still have your £1000 tax free savings interest earned - can you work this out, just by adding the interest earned in all the non-ISA accounts in the tax year? And only the total exceeds £1000 from interest then you need to worry, don't you?
I have found out from my government gateway account that 3 years ago, they taxed me on interest earned. And I am sure I wasn't near that £1000 allowance. So I guess I can verify this with them?
I earn a few hundred over the 50k tax threshold but have a work pension that is deducted from my salary before tax. This brings my taxable income well below the 40% threshold. Do i have a £1k interest allowance or £500. Because the pension contribution is so high I wont pay 40% tax on any earnings until about £56k
Good question mate- you need look at your figure on your p60 to confirm. But my understanding is you are right - pension rax relief brings your total income figure down. So if with this you are under the 50,270 you get the 1000 relief
Excellent video, thanks. However you do not ever explain how this tax is collected, how do the government know how much savings someone has? And how do the government collect it? Lots of people have asked this very question but you don’t answer it.
Hi Andy, if you say earned £49500 through salary and earned £1500 through interest in the same year in an none ISA account. Would your income for the year be £51000 pushing you in to the higher bracket? Or is interest earned not added to this? And the £1500 earned would be treat as basic tax payer
On a self assessment do you only declare interest if its over your personal savings allowance or starter savings rate (if below personal allowance on other income)
On the 6th of April 2024 I'm going to open a fixed saver for 1 year (12 months). I'm planning to put in £20,000 in it. Let's say for example the interest rate is 6%. My calculations is as follows would be by the time 5th of April 2025 arrives the account would have matured. I would receive £21,160. £20,000 + £1000 (not taxed) + £200 (£160 for me & £40 for taxman which is 20% of £200 that is over the £1000 limit. Are my calculations correct?
So to avoid paying tax on 20k savings you need to take the interest of 1k out each year otherwise it will start compounding and earn more year on year? Am I right on this?
Andy If you had to pay the tax on your savings as you've gone over your yearly allowance how do you go about doing that.
How will tax on a stocks and shares isa work over £100k proposed by government? Due to stock market falls my investment is in deficit currently. Next year there may be a profit, the following year back to losses etc. seems like I may be better off leaving it in the bank earning no interest, no losses (other than inflation) and no tax to pay?
If the tax is taken through PAYE most basic rate tax payers will not notice the tax being taken. Does HMRC adjust the code or do they want the money in a lump sum? If there is a choice which route should one take?
They’ll adjust the tax code. But if you’re self employed you’ll need to add it to your self-assessment form
Hi Andy
Please can you advise
My partner and I both don’t work however we invested our savings into the ns&i fixed for 1 year at 6.2% where it pays us the interest monthly
£196,000 so approx £1.100 per month.
Will we have to pay any tax on the interest at the end of the year ?
Thanks
Do you get £1000 personal tax savings allowance. As well as a £500 dividend allowance.
How does dividends from shares get taxed, are they included in the £1000 allowance ?
Hi Andy. Can you advice on a Personal allowance for residents in Scotland? From gov website: “the Scottish Parliament with the power to set the income tax rates and bands that apply to Scottish taxpayers’ Non-Savings, Non-Dividend (NSND) income. This excludes setting the Personal Allowance, which remains reserved, and is set by the UK Government at the UK Budget. “ Does it mean that the personal allowance is the same across the country?
please advise ! I don't know English, but I watched a couple of videos with subtitles and didn't understand anything 🤦♀️ I came from Ukraine and I plan to stay in England, I already have only one regular HSBC card for which I receive a salary ... I need 2 cards: 1. credit, to build a credit history, at a lower cost for me… 2. debit, so that I can freely use this money, but so that interest is charged on the rest of the money and I have cashback from purchases…. I'm afraid to take out any loans because I've only been here for 3 months and I can be refused, which is bad for my credit rating.. what do you recommend? Can you recommend something to me with the exact names of the map?
If you are on maternity leave for the whole tax year, earning only SMP, your earnings are below £12570 for that year. Does it mean you have £5000 tax free interest allowance?
Can I ask if the rule on tax on savings applies to Scottish residents?
Is there a government saving allowance for a 10+ year. ???
Hi all
Just to clarify matters given I've been sent my interest / tax for the 2023/2024 year.
I'm due to pay £52.80
I have two options
a) pay outright
b) in the 2025/2026 tax year is is taken off in 12 installments from my pay.
Hope this helps matters undertand how and when it goes out / paid
Hey Andy, do Credit Union dividends count towards your personal savings allowance?
Yep
If in the budget dividends come down to £1000 from £2000 how much tax do you pay per £100 over £1000
12:48 Does the low earner rate apply to people who are retired and taking less than the current personal allowance for their annual income?
is personal tax allowance of 12750 ontop of your annual salary or wipes out if you earn over this
I’m currently just overpaying into my pension as I’m in higher rate, can you pay into a ISA and declare this as part of tax return to get back the extra tax I paid on income at higher rate?
No
Quick question. I am earning just over £1000 per annum on savings interest. I am a basic rate tax payer but only just. how do i pay tax on my savings. is it automatically taken or do i need to fill in a self assessment form. my understanding is your tax code is automatically changed. is this correct. and that you only have to fill in a self assessment form if you earn over £10,000
Been looking at 1 year bonds at 2.30% that mite go up if the bank increase the base rate in a few weeks time. I'd like to make £1000 py and get it paid monthly so be a nice £80 pm
There are some one year fixes right now around 3.2%. More on the blog becleverwithyourcash.com/savings
Are you able to transfer money earned on interest to your spouse if they're a lower tax earner?
Hi Andy. Is Halifax’s £5 reward or Santander’s cash back on bills classed as interest for tax?
I believe the Halifax reward already has tax taken off and cashback is not taxable.
@@MrThebigcheese75 thanks Jon
Great video, thanks Andy!
Total novice sold my house after separation 100k, I'm 57 so would I better topping up pension as I can I assume access it at my age?
Top up your ISA and Pension.
Great video, thank you Andy!
Thank you, helpful video.
I sold my house 6 months ago and am travelling for a year or so so have a large chunk in various savings accounts and £50k in PB so will be earning around £12k interest this year …. Any better suggestions to pay less tax?.
If you’re not earning while travelling don’t forget there’s the personal allowance and starting rate of savings
@@BeCleverWithYourCash I working but Im director of my own company and only pay myself bare minimum on Paye.. I guess could draw less dividend this year if that would help?
Bro do you know how much tax do I have to pay on my saving account intrest if I am in the us
Whats the best 5 year fixed rate bonds please?
Money saving expert have daily updated tables, I don't think fixing for five years is a good idea at the moment, I personally wouldn't do more than a year now.
Thank you. Very helpful.
Glad it was helpful!
As a self employed worker in the construction industry, do I need to submit in my annual tax return, any interest earned earned on non isa accounts, regardless of whether I've earnt over £1000 of interest or not??
Yeah you’re meant to declare it, but the allowance will mean you don’t pay tax on it
Do joint accounts have twice the allowance? So if my wife and I are both basic rate tax payers would we get £1000 each tax free, or should we split the money into 2 separate accounts?
You’ll split the interest in two. So if you earn £100 in a joint account that’s £50 from each Allowance
@@BeCleverWithYourCash Thankyou.
hi could you help me and confirm something,i earn about 7k now i work part time. how much can i earn on interest without paying tax. i am i correct on saying approx 10 k on saving without paying tax thank you
👍Yes that's correct
At 2:15 did you mean to say 17570 ?
I've banked with Chase many years ago in the States, very shady indeed. I wouldn't trust them at all.
Why is that?
Use an ISA to off set the interest
Yeah so if I’m not misunderstanding; you can for instance have a fixed rate bond that earns up to 1K interest per year (say, 20,000 at 5%), and an ISA that earns 500+ interest per year, without paying tax. Personal saving allowance doesn’t impact ISAs🤔
The best person ever, the most knowledgeable and the most shy
of all has Allah created is prophet Muhammad ( رسول الله ﷺ )
Muhammed was a false prophet. Jesus is GOD.
Love premium bonds - as an additional rate payer it's the best place for my emergency funds imo.
this is so complicated...
Tax on our savings now.
Fuck this
Just blow all ur money on a holiday spunk it away get a massive loan enjoy ur life for a couple years in another country then end it when shit hits the fan.
It was actually only in 2016 that the allowance was introduced. Before that you’d pay tax on all interest earned not in an ISA
@@BeCleverWithYourCash Wow. British politicians are professional thieves.