SIR – I am a paid-up Liberal Democrat and I support the party line that Labour can’t be trusted with the economy.

I do, however, agree with my colleague John Cole that the deficit and national debt may have been lower when Labour took office (private finance for schools, hospitals, etc, was kept off the books – there’s another can of worms!). Labour have undoubtedly been unfairly criticised in a number of areas.

However, I believe that Labour’s foundations were sand, not clay. They did little to revive manufacturing; bent their knees to unregulate financial services (the financial crash wasn’t just made on Wall Street, London was far from sound); they put too much reliance on house-price inflation to get sectors of the economy growing.

Add to that their poor regulation of privatised utilities and the rip-off that they represent.

I agree with JC, but Labour’s folly lay in other areas. They cannot be trusted.

John Hall, Pennithorne Avenue, Baildon