Chancellor Gordon Brown wants a 'transparent' tax regime

The chancellor, favourite to succeed Tony Blair, met business chiefs in Downing St to stress his desire to keep London as a global financial centre.

To help achieve this he says there must remain a "light regulatory touch and a competitive tax environment".

Meanwhile, the Tories are "very keen" on cutting stamp duty on shares, which their tax review is thought to suggest.

The party's tax reform commission, whose report is due on Thursday, is thought to believe that the existing duty harmed the UK's attractiveness for investors.

Mr Brown, writing in the Financial Times, said he had asked Sir David Varney, the former chairman of Revenue & Customs, to lead a review of the organisation's links with the commercial sector.

"Britain will maintain a competitive tax regime and a responsive tax administration," he said.

George Osborne has indicated he was looking at cutting duty

Outlining his plans, he wrote that opening up global trade was key to keeping London at the forefront of the financial services industry, followed by ensuring immigration attracted skilled foreign workers and by improving training.

He added: "Our tax and regulatory framework must always be clear, transparent and competitive. And we will learn from experience around the world."

The Conservative party's tax review commission, due to be publish its report on Thursday, is set to recommend tax cuts totalling �19 billion, with stamp duty on shares as a priority.

Shadow chancellor George Osborne has previously said he wanted to look at abolishing the tax to help boost pensions, and a party spokesman said he was now "very keen".

UK share deals are subject to a 0.5% duty. With pension funds being major stock-holders, they would benefit from the cut.

The government abolished tax relief on pension fund trading in 1998.

The chairman of the Conservative's "No Turning Back" group, John Redwood, said taxes on "earning and saving" needed to be reconsidered.

Tax cuts

"Our corporation tax rate is no longer competitive; our pension tax has been very damaging to company cash flow in Britain; our stamp duty regime isn't competitive; and our investment funds are not taxed on the best basis of the best jurisdictions around the world," he told the World at One on BBC Radio 4.

However, the economic secretary to the Treasury and Minister for the City, Ed Balls, dismissed Conservative criticism, highlighting the cuts in capital gains tax from 40p to 10p, and in corporation tax from 33p to 30p.

After the chancellor's meeting with City representatives on Wednesday, Mr Balls said London was the "preminent global financial centre".

"We're attracting companies to come and list and invest and create jobs in the City and we want to keep it like that, we're very much not complacent."