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Speaking at the Tax Incentivised Savings Association yesterday (18 November), Ms May said those saving for pensions needed to be encouraged and rewarded.

She said financial advice played an important role in ensuring that consumers know how much they need to save for retirement.

Ms May said: "Good financial advice will be crucial to ensuring that as many people as possible are saving enough and are getting the information they need to make the right decisions for their future.

"So we need to extend the availability of good quality financial advice."

Ms May said if a Conservative government were to be returned at the next general election it would scrap the obligation for retirees to buy an annuity at the age of 75.

The Conservative MP said the party's policymakers were also looking at hybrid defined benefits and defined contribution schemes.

Under a Conservative government, auto-enrolment would be brought forward on a voluntary basis for companies, Ms May said.

"Early, voluntary auto-enrolment could help prevent any implementation problems that might arise in 2012, would allow employers to properly plan for implementation within their own financial cycles, and of course will boost pension saving in the long run," she said. "So it is disappointing that the Government do not appear to have investigated this with any real vigour."

Ms May reiterated Conservative plans to review the Personal Accounts scheme "as a matter of urgency".

Consumer protection was also highlighted by the senior Conservative MP, adding that consumer protection responsibilities would be stripped from the Office of Fair Trading and Financial Services Authority and handed to the proposed Consumer Protection Agency.

She said: "We will expect this new agency to name firms in breach of consumer protection regulations and to ensure that firms publish more information about the complaints they receive."