SIR – I am a paid-up Liberal Democrat and as such have been advised that in the up-coming European elections my party will be running, as one of its lines, the assertion that “Labour can’t be trusted with the economy”.

The argument is that “Labour’s reckless spending and failure to regulate the banks crippled Britain’s economy and Liberal Democrats in Government have been cleaning up their mess”.

I am also a former economics teacher who manages in his retirement to read more deeply than previously. From my research it is clear that the Labour Government was pretty responsible with the nation’s finances.

In 2007, both the deficit (2.4 per cent of GDP) and the national debt (36.5 per cent) were lower than in 1997 (3.4 per cent of GDP, national debt of 42.5 per cent). The deficit inherited by the Coalition was the result of the financial crash – it was made on Wall Street and not in Downing Street. The evidence on this is robust.

I have written to my party on three occasions correcting their assertions in this area. What they (and the Tories) are circulating is a manufactured myth.

I am saddened that my party has sought to perpetuate this lie, especially since we came into the 2010 election promising a more honest politics.

John Cole, Oakroyd Terrace, Baildon