Michael Portillo, the Shadow Chancellor, accused the Government of undoing the careful work of the previous Tory administration through the introduction of measures that directly attack the pension fund industry.

Speaking at the National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF) conference in Glasgow, Portillo claimed that Chancellor Gordon Brown's abolition of Advanced Corporation Tax credits left the pension industry with a £5bn shortfall that will force members to top up their funds or face a less generous retirement. He called it 'the meanest and stealthiest tax'.