The Conservatives have attempted to put the future of the state retirement pension at the centre of the election campaign.

Interviewed in today's Telegraph, Michael Howard accuses Gordon Brown, the chancellor, of "almost single-handedly turning what was one of the strongest pensions systems in Europe into one of the weakest".

The Conservatives, who over the weekend announced a £1.7bn tax rebate aimed at tackling the pensions crisis, claimed Labour was considering means testing pensions and was split over the idea of forcing people to save for a pension.