Chancellor in scorching water for silence on looming pensions raid

Rachel Reeves has been ticked off by MPs for her failure to properly address the concerns of savers worried about a tax raid on their pensions.

A parliamentary petition calling for assurances that retirement pots will not be targeted in the Budget easily reached the 10,000 signatures needed to draw a response from the Government. It has more than 20,000 signatories – underlining the level of concern about a possible tax raid on contributions to pensions or the tax-free lump sum.

The Government response simply stated that it ‘does not comment on proposed tax changes or tax-related speculation ahead of Budgets’ – fuelling anxiety among savers about the Chancellor’s plans. But the Petitions Committee – the MPs overseeing the system – said the response was not adequate.

Anger: Rachel Reeves has been ticked off by MPs for her failure to properly address the concerns of savers worried about a tax raid on their pensions

‘They have therefore asked the Government to provide a revised response,’ the committee added. Tom Selby at broker AJ Bell, which lodged the petition, said ‘this did nothing to ease the nerves of many hard-working pension savers ahead of another Budget tipped for tax rises’.