Did Gordon Brown deliberately cause Pensions crisis?

The Conservatives announced today that they are to hold a special debate in the House of Commons at which Gordon Brown - if he decides to attend - will be asked to explain his decision to defy official advice over the cost to pension funds of the tax reforms introduced in his first Budget.

After a two-year freedom of information battle, The Times revealed yesterday that the Chancellor received repeated warnings from Treasury officials about the potentially devastating impact of his £5 billion-a-year raid on pensions funds.

But he went ahead anyway and scrapped tax relief on dividends paid into pensions funds in his first Budget in July 1997 - a move that experts claim has deprived the country's savers of at least £100 billion over the past decade.

Mr Osborne said: “It is time Gordon Brown faced the music for the damage he's done to British pensions. We now know he was told all along about the devastating impact his tax would have on hard pressed savers.

"Now he will face the dilemma: does he finally turn up and account for himself on floor of the House of Commons where he must tell the truth or does he run and hide? Has Gordon Brown got the courage to defend his own disastrous policy?â€

The scrapping of the tax relief helped precipitate a crisis in which Britain's pensions systems has struggled to stay afloat. The changes affected both the 11 million people in Britain with company pensions and the seven million with personal pensions.

The documents were released on Friday night after the Treasury was ordered to do so by the Information Commissioner - leading to Tory accusations that Mr Brown was trying to bury bad news at the tail-end of the week.

David Cameron, the Tory leader, said: “The crisis that has been created in our pensions system - after he ignored official warnings - is typical of his approach.

“A stealth tax aimed to hit those who have worked hard and saved for their future was pushed through and then, when the full scale of his failure is finally revealed, there is not a hint of an apology. Instead there is just another bungled attempt to spin his way out of trouble and bury bad news.â€

The only people this did not affect were our beloved MP's who have inflation protected extremely generous pensions, paid for by the taxpayer.