WITH the General Election imminent the idea of 'Baby Bonds' will be one of many new Government initiatives announced in the coming weeks.

The Government plans to give each new baby between £250 and £500 at birth depending on a family's income and top it up at ages 5, 11 and 16.

In the intervening years, the child's parents will be expected to invest money into the Trust Fund with the possibility of it being worth up to £7000 when they turn 18.

The spending of the money will be controlled, but some people are sceptical that it will be spent in the right way.

The Citizen went out on to the streets of Chorley to find out what it's readers think of the idea. Michelle Barton, a housewife from Euxton, said: "The success of it depends on how the money is going to be used. If it is on education, then yes it is a good thing."

Susan Eubank, a customer services worker at the Royal Bank of Scotland from Chorley, thinks that the money used belongs to taxpayers in the first place.

She said: "If you have no more children then you are never going to get the money, but I suppose it is a good idea that the money goes directly to the children in a trust fund and not to the parents."

The plan was criticised as a "gimmick" by 18 year-old Chorley barman Richard McCullagh because it has been announced so close to an expected election.

He said: "I like it, but I can't see why it could not have been done a long time ago."

Darren Laud, unemployed from Chorley, said: "I would like to have £7,000. It will give the chance for kids to have the stuff that I never had."