SIR – I write in support of the views of Ian Parsons (Letters, January17) which lay the blame for the economic crisis on the global banking system.
At the same time I express surprise at those of John Hall. I think he needs to talk to his Baildon Lib-Dem colleague John Cole (former economics teacher) who recently put on a talk at Baildon Link dismissing the myths and legends peddled by the Coalition Government as to the causes of the recession.
The fact is that in the last quarter before the crash the debt to the GDP ratio was lower than the ratio Labour inherited in 1997. In addition, objective commentators (Wren-Lewis) assert Labour was fairly good at following fiscal rules in the period to 2007.
It was the financial crash which caused Government spending to rise and tax receipts to fall, with the consequent rise in the debt-GDP ratio.
Peter Ashton, Sandals Road, Baildon
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