Budget 2016: It would be a mistake for George Osborne to use pensions as a device to balance the books

The best of Voices delivered to your inbox every week - from controversial columns to expert analysis Sign up for our free weekly Voices newsletter for expert opinion and columns Sign up to our free weekly Voices newsletter SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. “If Osborne wants to be leader, he needs to think again.” The second option is to scrap upfront tax relief in favour of “pension Isas”, under which people would not pay any tax when they drew their pension. The move is opposed by Ros Altmann, the feisty pensions minister, and some Tory MPs, who fear the middle classes would see the loss of tax relief as a tax hike and a broken promise. During last year’s election campaign, the Tories said: “We believe the pensions tax relief system will be fair and affordable and we will not propose any further changes to that system during the next parliament.” There are signs that Mr Cameron is urging caution. David Willetts, the former minister and peer who chairs the Resolution Foundation think-tank, says that pension reform could be “progressive”, but that “the crucial test” will be whether young adults are given more incentives to save – such as beefing up the programme under which workers are automatically enrolled into a pension scheme and making pensions more flexible so they can be drawn in an emergency before retirement.