Joan Moorhouse (Letters, April 10) is quite correct in pointing out that the roots of the pension crisis go back beyond the first New Labour Budget of 1997.

Those responsible include companies which took "payment holidays", underachieving trustees and fund managers, and actuaries who somehow failed to realise we were all living longer.

They all bear a share of the responsibility and, quite frankly, should be held to account.

However, it seems to me Gordon Brown bears a particular responsibility for the woeful situation we find our pension schemes to be in.

It was he alone, against the express warnings of his own advisers, who decided to withdraw tax credits worth £5 billion a year from pension funds.

And it was he alone who stood by and did nothing to change this when it became apparent that his advisers' warnings had been entirely correct and the pensions system was now in severe decline.

He began with a pensions system which was still the envy of Europe, if not the world, and ran it into the floor to fill the Treasury's coffers.

And now, on top of this, it comes to light that Mr Brown also ignored Bank of England advice when selling more than half the country's gold reserves between 1999 and 2002.

As a result, he effectively cost the taxpayer an estimated £2 billion. Why on earth are the media and the Opposition not calling for his resignation?

  • Richard Harris, Greenacres, Shoreham-by-Sea