SOME of your readers seem to believe that Labour was not responsible for Britain's recent economic problems.

Nothing I can write is likely to change their views but for the benefit of your more open-minded readers, I would like to give just two examples of disastrous policies implemented by Labour when they were in office.

Far from the being imported from America, the UK banking crash of 2008 was a direct consequence of the policies of Brown, Balls and Miliband.

When they took office, they took advice from bankers (the poachers) and relieved the Bank of England (the gamekeepers) of its supervisory responsibilities.

Even Miliband now admits that this was a serious mistake.

Much to the the delight of the banks, Gordon Brown's Financial Services Authority focused on administrative details and ignored the economic issues.

He relieved the banks of their responsibilities to ordinary depositors with the FSA compensation scheme. Bankers were free to:

•focus on pumping up house prices through easy mortgages. Don't forget self-certified mortgages and buy-to-let mortgages. Pumping up house prices makes house owners feel good, but it is only of use to them when they downsize. The effect on young people's prospects has been disastrous.

•replace the business of lending money to productive enterprises with the unproductive businesses of gambling on the stock market and lending money to each other.

Fuelled by an outrageous bonus culture, the UK banks took on too many bad loans and too many financial liabilities.

It was a debt-fuelled binge (banks print the money they lend). Gordon Brown arrogantly claimed he had 'abolished boom and bust' but was actually presiding over a disaster in the making.

He claims no-one saw it coming, but Money Week's staff and other financial journalists anticipated the problems many years before the crash.

A second economic disaster bequeathed to us by Labour is the size and shape of the welfare state.

Even now, the UK government spends £264 million more every day than it collects in taxes.

Much of the UK deficit (£40bn) funds a benefits system that subsidises and rewards low paid, part time work.

It should be no surprise that Britain's productivity per worker has fallen through the floor compared with competitor nations nor that it's become harder for HMRC to raise income taxes.

The deficit is funded through borrowing easy money much of which is being created (printed) by central banks across the world.

There is no way that this can continue indefinitely. An ever-increasing part of the UK deficit pays the (£50bn) interest on the government's ever-increasing loan debt.

Increasing taxes is not the answer. The economy would collapse if a government of whatever party tried to raise taxes to cover the £90bn annual shortfall.

I have little doubt that many politicians are well intentioned but good intentions are not enough when our political leaders lack the economic competence to benefit the nation as a whole.

People who  rely on the state for their income have been sold short by politicians and especially Labour politicians making promises they could never realistically deliver. To win your votes, they continue to do so.

For the record, I am not a member of the Conservative Party. I view their current manifesto as a craven attempt to buy votes rather than address the real problems.

– David Clarke, Tidenham.