Pensions row poll threat to Labour's May elections

Tony Blair and Mr Brown tried to shift attention onto the Government's record on tackling yobs as they jointly unveiled the party's bid to defend its seats in English councils and the Scottish Parliament.

But with yet another poll giving the Tories an eight-point lead in England, Labour faces the prospect of losing upto 600 council seats. The SNP was also projected to become the biggest party north of the border.

The Chancellor was expected to speak for the first time over the release of documents showing that some Treasury officials had warned his 1997 pension tax would leave a "big hole" in pension funds. Mr Brown is set to stand by his decision, despite fresh criticism from Mr Blair's former economic adviser Derek Scott.

Mr Scott revealed today he had argued against the "bizarre" raid on pensions 10 years ago but said the Prime Minister had not felt strong enough to take on his Chancellor at the time.

Mr Scott also hit out at City minister Ed Balls over his "foolish" claim that the CBI had lobbied for the tax change, a claim rejected by business chiefs yesterday.

In a separate attempt to ratchet up the pressure on Mr Brown, the Tories unveiled a dossier claiming that the Treasury adviser behind the tax increase was linked to the Enron scandal.

The "super Thursday" polls on 3 May are the biggest set of local elections for four years and critics of Mr Brown claim any meltdown for Labour could trigger a serious challenge to passage to No10.

Mr Blair and Mr Brown were set to appear side by side at the Scottish launch in Glasgow and then in Nottingham for the English councils campaign.

The poll of polls published by The Independent today puts Labour on 31 per cent to the Conservatives' 39 per cent - a large enough margin to let Mr Cameron form a minority government.

The local elections are set to sharpen the country's North-South divide, with Labour expected to be virtually wiped out in the South. The Tories are hopeful of winning key northern councils such as Bury and Crewe, but the Liberal Democrats and BNP could take seats too.

Mr Scott, who was Mr Blair's economic adviser from 1997 to 2003, said that the tax raid on pensions was "crackers" and pointed out that Treasury attempts to spin against the CBI echoed the tax "con" of last month's Budget cut to income tax.

"It feeds into an issue of character. The feeling is things have been done in a way so that people didn't notice it at the time. That is potentially quite damaging," he said.

In a direct attack on Mr Brown's character, the Tories today reiterated that he was the "Enron Chancellor". The party said Chris Wales, the "brainsî behind the pension tax move, worked for Arthur Andersen, the accountancy firm at the heart of the US scandal.

Shadow cabinet minister Chris Grayling said: "Gordon Brown does everything by stealth. His murky links to Enron throw his judgment into question yet again.

"He has often been called the Enron Chancellor because of his creative accounting, but no one realised until now just how close this is to the truth."

The Tories said Mr Brown had also bought a £130,000 flat from Arthur Andersen and that one of his aides became a lobbyist for Enron, successfully getting Labour to change its energy policies.