Gordon Brown beat off a Commons attack on his handling of occupational pensions last night as an opinion poll showed that a majority of voters believe that he has to take at least some of the blame for the problems in the system.

A rare motion of no confidence in the Chancellor was defeated after a stormy all-day debate in which the Conservatives claimed that £100 billion had been wiped off the value of pension schemes as a result of his decision to scrap tax relief on dividend payments.

Mr Brown countered that funds had soared in worth since the 1997 Budget.

The latest Populus poll for The Times suggested that although voters say that Mr Brown should be blamed for the decision, they have not punished him for it.

The Times survey found that Mr Brown had cut David Cameron’s lead over him in a future general election from 13 per cent last month to 11 per cent. The findings will surprise Labour chiefs, who were braced for a big “hit” after the issue dominated the news over Easter. Although Labour’s poll position has dropped to 29 per cent, as reported yesterday, the Conservative lead remains where it was at 8 per cent.

Even so, 20 per cent of voters said that Mr Brown was completely to blame for the difficulties in the pension system, 17 per cent that he was significantly to blame and 15 per cent that he was somewhat to blame. Those who blamed him in some way totalled 52 per cent and those who did not blame him 21 per cent.

The row followed the revelation in The Timesthat the Chancellor went ahead with his decision to scrap tax credits on pension fund dividends in 1997, despite Treasury advice that it would cut pension benefits, hit the lower paid, depress the value of pension funds and that businesses would struggle to adjust.

George Osborne, the Shadow Chancellor, opened the rowdy Commons debate by accusing Mr Brown of disregarding warnings by Treasury civil servants to impose a “stealth tax” on pension funds. The result, as officials had forecast, was “large-scale desolation” of the pensions system, leaving millions with shortfalls in retirement funds, he said.

Worse, the Chancellor blocked all attempts to get at the truth and blamed everyone but himself for the destruction of pension funds, he added.

Mr Brown gave a robust defence, dismissing calls for an apology and describing it as one of three long-term decisions he made, on a par with giving the Bank of England independence and setting his fiscal rules for managing the economy. This was the first Government in history to give protection to pensioners whose companies go bust, to address the misselling of personal pensions and to enrol people automatically in pension schemes, the Chancellor told MPs.

Far from being damaged, pension funds had grown under Labour with their total assets rising from £549 billion in 1996 to £1,000 billion last year and their income up from £34.4 to £71.3 billion in the same period.

Populus interviewed 1,503 adults by telephone between April 13-15. For more details go to www.populuslimited.com

— The good news for David Miliband, being spoken of as a future leader of the Labour Party, is that more than half the voters in a survey for The Times knew what he looked like. The bad news is that half of the rest confused him with Peter Mandelson

— The Populus poll shows that Mr Miliband’s position is strengthening. Last month’s survey suggested that David Cameron had a 20-point lead over Mr Miliband when voters were told to imagine that he was Labour leader at the next election. He has cut Mr Cameron’s “lead” to 12 per cent

— The Chancellor’s position also appears to have improved despite the pensions furore and claims of a Budget own goal. Last month Mr Cameron’s lead over him at a future general election was 13 per cent. It is now 11 per cent

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