Vince Cable has been accused of committing "an extraordinary blunder" in his calculations over pensions tax relief, which the Liberal Democrats wish to cut in order to fund tax cuts for lower earners.

His grasp of current tax rules have been called into question by wealth management firm HFM Columbus, which has claimed that he and his team have based a core policy pledge on outdated figures.

The Liberal Democrats' economic spokesperson wants to ensure that no working adult pays tax on the first £10,000 that they earn in any tax year. This, the party's manifesto says, would cost £16.795bn, with £5.455bn of that - almost a third of the money - provided by abolishing the higher rate tax relief on pensions for higher earners.

However, these sums, says HFM Columbus director, Charlie Walker, are incorrect.

"Cable and his team say they will finance this radical measure through cutting pensions relief benefits to the better off. This measure is the single largest contributor to the pot, and is at the core of their manifesto," Walker said.

"It is completely wrong - the amount of tax relief granted in total on personal contributions to pensions is less than this amount, while tax rebates at the higher rate only represent a small part of the total for one simple reason - Gordon Brown has already taken it in his tax measures, which came into force in April 2009."

Walker said the mistake could have been avoided by his researchers simply checking with data from The Office of National Statistics (ONS).

"It is a matter of public record that the total amount paid into personal pensions in 2008 fell to £10.3bn. In that year people who could afford it could invest up to £225,000 a year in their pensions - but don't forget that was before the changes in April 2009, which put an overall cap on pension contributions which qualify for higher rate tax relief of £30,000."

This, he deduced, means we will see massively reduced contributions in 2011/12 compared to those in 2009/10. "They have looked at the wrong set of numbers," explained Walker.

Cable and his team have not, Walker said, looked at the total amount paid into pensions, which would include companies making up for past deficits, and then taken the proportion of higher rate taxpayers and applied these numbers.

Walker believes this error will come as an "embarrassment" at such a crucial stage in the campaigning calendar.

In response to the accusation from HFM Columbus, a Liberal Democrats spokesperson commented: "Our figures are based on ONS statistics and take account the pension tax changes announced by the Labour in 2009, these figures have been confirmed by the respected Institute for Fiscal Studies.

"The Liberal Democrats believe it is entirely wrong that the richest 10 per cent of people should receive twice as much tax relief on their pension as the other 90 per cent of people.

"By having pension tax relief the same for everyone we can help fund an income tax cut which will give £700 back to the vast majority of income tax payers."

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