A Financial Planning firm’s MD claims ex-Chancellor George Osborne was “possessed with an inner-Gordon Brown” and called for pension complexities to be scrapped by his successor.

Jason Hollands, managing director of Tilney Bestinvest Group, criticised “repeated raids” on the lifetime allowance and annual allowances and “persistent tinkering” with allowances.

He said this “saps wider public confidence in pension saving”.

With a new Chancellor, Phillip Hammond, in place and an Autumn Statement coming on 23 November, Mr Hollands said it was a good time to end “confusion and complexity” and the “sense that pension saving is a game that will always be rigged”.

He said: “As we approach November, traditionally a month of bonfires and fireworks, it is surely time for Philip Hammond to seize the opportunity in his Autumn Statement to have a bonfire of the pension allowance complexities left by his predecessor and act to restore faith in the private pensions system by scrapping the LTA and ditching the complex new tapering regime.

“The latter is wrongly leading some to conclude that it no longer makes sense to contribute to a pension at all and it also risks disenaging senior managers across UK PLC with pensions, which cannot be good news when efforts are being made to enourage workplace pension savings for their employees.”

He said: “The finger prints on these raids on pension tax reliefs are clearly those of the Treasury rather than the DWP, notably under George Osborne’s tenure as Chancellor.

“Mr. Osborne seemed to be possessed with an inner-Gordon Brown when it came to his fervour for extracting tax savings from the pension system.”