SIR – In his letter (T&A, February 17) John Hall repeats his oft made assertion that the root cause of the financial crisis starting in 2008 was inadequate regulation by Labour.

In fact things started to go wrong in the USA and rapidly spread around the world to the point where some British banks were unable to renew their short term borrowing and faced bankruptcy.

For a government which we were and are told on a daily basis doesn’t understand business to tell respected institutions like the Halifax to change their ways would have been dismissed as unwarranted interference.

Indeed, George Osborne went so far as to say that Gordon Brown’s regulatory frame work was too restrictive.

Perhaps Mr Hall would now explain once and for all just what it is that Labour did wrong and so spare us all another instalment of his vague and unsubstantiated allegations of ministerial incompetence.

Brian Holmans, Langley Road, Bingley