SIR – Allan Holdsworth (Letters, May 14) exaggerates the power of Messrs Miliband and Balls under the last Labour government. If they have indeed “accepted full responsibility for the collapse” of Lehman Bros, then they are fools.

The people responsible for Lehman Bros were firstly its board of directors, secondly the American financial regulators, and only thirdly the British regulators. Any responsibility for the collapse that might rest on British shoulders is a comparatively small residual amount.

Fortunately for Messrs Miliband and Balls, the latter was always out-ranked by Mr Brown and the former was never directly involved in financial policy-making.

Christopher Evans, Farfield Road, Shipley