It is reported in the Daily Mail today that last night it emerged the recent loss of the records of 25 Million taxpayers by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) comes after a previous apology by HMRC and pledge to fix weaknesses in this data security systems yet it seems nothing or little was done.

The Daily Mail report is based on letters leaked which show that a CD containing names, addresses, national insurance numbers, bank details and information on retirement savings was lost after HMRC sent it by post in 2005.

Most damagingly for Gordon Brown who was Chancelllor of the Exchequer at the time and responsible for the Treasury and HM Revenue & Customs is that the documents show officials promised to overhaul their systems after the loss came to light two years ago.

The Shadow Chancellor George Osborne is quoted as saying last night "The pressure on Alistair Darling to come before Parliament and explain himself builds by the day." and "We now discover evidence of personal data being lost two years ago and a promise at the time from HMRC to fix the problem." and "This all points to a wider systemic failure in the department that Gordon Brown ran for ten years."

In a letter to Tory MP David Lidington (who was alerted to the case by an affected constituent) David Varney (then Head of HMRC) claimed improvements were "implemented immediately" and HMRC insisted that the loss was a "one-off incident".

What is particularly shocking about this whole sorry saga is that taxpayers are expected to keep sometimes a rediculous amount of records and data for HMRC to inspect anything up to approximately six years after the end of each tax year. I have even seen on a number of occasions Inspectors request the Diary kept by a taxpayer in desperate attempts to catch taxpayer out. It certainly does seem that HMRC live in their own world which is very different from the world ordinary citizens live in day to day.

Frankly it is about time HMRC and indeed the Government got their act together.  Taxpayers, business people particularly are buried in red tape, ledgislation and rules which have been growing year on year on year for the last decade with no doubt many more yet to come. How is it that taxpayers have to keep and maintain so many records when it seems quite obvious that HMRC and Government generally think they can just do as they please?

Labour are in yet more trouble today and now even being investigated for apparently not being quite so honest as they should have about donations from a Mr Abrahams who reportedly made donations to Labour of about £600,000. The donations were channeled through associates of Mr Abrahams reportedly. This had lead to a senior resignation in Labour as it transpires Labour were aware of the donations but it seems the reporting of the donations was not as full as it should have been?

It beggars belief frankly. Government cannot be honest and open. What a very poor example the Government and HMRC have set to the ordinary citizens of the United Kingdom in recent months particularly. It was extremely lucky for Gordon Brown that Tony Blair handed him the Prime Ministers job when he did. Had Gordon Brown been Chancellor of the Exchequer now he would be in a lot more hot water than he already is (with no doubt at all much more to come as house prices and grow fall in 2008). How fortunate for Mr Brown that he has left Alistair Darling holding the hot coals!

Simply amazing.