IT is clear that John Merry (HAS, Nov 6) has swallowed the Tory/Lib Dem line on the causes of the 2008 recession hook, line and sinker, and must have been asleep when the banks failed as a result of the enormous risks they were taking with other people’s money, causing economic mayhem around the world.

Yes it was the banks, Mr Merry, and not just British banks, but banks in most western economies and particularly in the United States.

Mr Merry should be directing his ire at the authorities in the UK who have subsequently held so few to account for this gross breach of duty.

In fact, Gordon Brown showed huge resource and leadership in getting the leaders of the biggest economies together to agree a rescue plan that prevented the world plunging into economic chaos.

The economic misery we have suffered since 2010 (yes, Labour left power with the economy growing again) is due entirely to the ineptitude of the coalition’s economic policies, with the deep cuts they implemented dragging the UK into prolonged recession. Thanks to these failed policies, the deficit is widening again as the Chancellor is borrowing more to cover the gap in income created by a reduced tax take caused by his policies to shrink the economy.

Ken Kemp, Durham