Labour and the Conservatives have clashed over which party has the best policies to help pensioners.

The Tories have made a play for the grey vote with a renewed commitment to tackle the pensions crisis.

But Labour has accused the Opposition of breaking its promises to pensioners.

Conservative leader Michael Howard said on Friday that people had seen the value of their pension fund slump since Labour came to office.

"I believe that people deserve to be treated with dignity and respect in their retirement," he told journalists in London.

"But in Britain today, millions of people have seen the value of their pensions destroyed by Mr Blair's stealth taxes.

"Imagine putting money aside for your retirement only to find that it's not there."

Shadow pensions secretary David Willetts also said Labour was directly responsible for the problems facing many workers and pensioners.

"This isn't about changing the substance of the law, it is about making the law easier to understand," he said.

"Since Labour came to office in 1997, we've had more than 1,000 pages of pensions regulation and what has happened? More than 10,000 pension schemes have wound up.

"We've reached the stage where the burden of all this regulation is making things worse, not better."

Willets said the industry must be deregulated if the reduction in pension fund values is to be addressed.

"We can deliver the protection the regulations promise with far fewer pages of regulations," he told journalists in London.

'Broken promise'

But ahead of that press conference, Labour got in its own attack on the Conservatives.

"Michael Howard has already broken his promise that there would be tax cuts in year one of a Tory government," said pensions secretary Alan Johnson.

"And he has broken his promise to pensioners that they would have their council tax bills halved in year one of a Tory government."

He added: "So there will be no tax cuts for pensioners in year one, and the Tories have a black hole in the plans of £18.5bn in year two and £14.4bn in year three so they cannot afford to cut taxes for pensioners or anyone else without even bigger spending cuts, or higher borrowing."