Major attacks chancellor's record

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Former prime minister Sir John Major has launched a scathing attack on Gordon Brown's record.

He said the chancellor could not "shuffle off" responsibility for what he described as "Labour's failures".

Mr Brown had wrecked private pensions and introduced a tax credit scheme which had imploded and caused distress to many families, Sir John said.

He was speaking at the launch of a group for young Conservative high-fliers in the City of London.

"Ten years ago, Labour came in inheriting a buoyant economy with huge public goodwill and an unassailable majority in Parliament. They have wasted it," Sir John said.

There were few signs that public services had improved, he went on.

He takes no blame for his follies: wrecking private pensions; selling gold at one-third of its present value; and a tax credit scheme that has imploded Sir John Major

"Nurses, doctors, soldiers, civil servants, teachers - all line up in turn to express their dissatisfaction. So do the public. It is easy to understand their frustration."

Although Sir John conceded that the chancellor was due some credit, he questioned how much he had achieved.

Mr Brown had inherited a strong economy which had been enjoying rising growth, falling inflation and increasing numbers of jobs, he said.

He added: "Yet he takes no blame for his follies: wrecking private pensions; selling gold at one-third of its present value; and a tax credit scheme that has imploded and caused distress to many families."

Sir John said that, if Mr Brown succeeded Tony Blair, it would not be an improvement, or even a significant change.

"For this is not a Blair Government; it is a Blair/Brown Government," he said.