GEORGE Osborne was accused yesterday of the most serious breach of the parliamentary select committee system in history, in a cynical attempt to hoodwink the opposition.

Labour’s John Mann made the comment after the Chancellor refused five times before the Commons Treasury committee to rule out a future VAT rise just a day before Prime Minister David Cameron announced such a pledge in the Commons.

“I couldn’t be clearer. We do not need to increase VAT because our plans involve saving money on the welfare budget and government departments,” Mr Osborne told the committee.

But he declined to give committee-members a “cast-iron guarantee” to match Labour’s pledge not to increase VAT over the five years of the next Parliament.

That left Labour leader Ed Miliband wrong-footed during Prime Minister’s questions on Wednesday when Mr Cameron made the vow that the Tories would not raise the tax.

However, interviewed on Newsnight that evening, Business Minister Matthew Hancock said that he knew about the VAT announcement “earlier this week.”

Asked about Mr Osborne’s appearance at the committee, he said: “There was obviously a decision not to announce a new policy in that forum but instead to announce it at Prime Minister’s questions.”

Mr Mann accused Mr Osborne of misleading the committee in the “most serious breach of the select committee system ever” and claimed his integrity was in question.

“If the governor of the Bank of England or the financial regulator did that in front of our committee, I think they would have to resign,” said Mr Mann.

“We are there in order to hold whoever is the government to account on a cross-party basis on what they are saying and what the facts are.

“For the Chancellor of the Exchequer to mislead the committee and then for it to be a political set-up the next day, what it does is it brings into disrepute the whole select committee system.”