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Conservatives call for independent investigation into Gordon Brown's multi billion pound raid on Britain's pension funds April 2, 2007 Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary Philip Hammond wants the Government Actuary to probe the actual cost of the Chancellor's 1997 decision to scrap tax relief on pension funds, after it emerged that Mr Brown was advised by his own Treasury officials of the damaging impact of the move. And Shadow Chancellor George Osborne has joined Mr Hammond in demanding a full Commons statement from Mr Brown, explaining why he pressed ahead with the raid on pension funds – which may have netted the Treasury up to £100 billion in the past decade – in the face of official advice. With Confederation of British Industry chiefs flatly denying as "completely untrue" Treasury claims that their organisation lobbied for the tax, Mr Hammond declared: "Gordon Brown must explain why he acted in defiance of his top civil servants who warned that his tax reforms would cost pension funds billions, leaving a black hole in many of them. "The Chancellor has effectively concealed information surrounding these plans from Parliament for the last ten years. The extent of disregard he has shown towards pensioners, past and present, is unbelievable." Mr Hammond said: "The Chancellor's been telling us for the last ten years these tax changes didn't have a negative effect on pensions funds. The documents now prove this is not true. An independent inquiry by the Government Actuary into the total cost of this stealth tax to Britain's pensions funds is urgently required. "The way in which Gordon Brown ignored advice that these measures would undermine pensions funds, his persistent denial of what these papers now confirm, and the sneaky way this bad news release was managed, all pose yet more questions about Gordon Brown's fitness for the highest office." With the Conservatives now planning to stage a special House of Commons debate on the issue once Parliament returns following the Easter recess, Mr Osborne said: "It is time Gordon Brown faced the music for the damage he's done to British pensions." The Shadow Chancellor went on: "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 the 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?"
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