SIR - I’m sympathetic to the tenor of David Hornsby’s letter (Letters, March 25). I would question however, his assertion that PM Brown acted promptly and courageously to prop up the banks. I remember it happening after some time of prompting by Liberal Democrat Vince Cable.

I would also question Labour’s increased spending on schools, hospitals etc by using relatively expensive private funding, pretending that we didn’t need to raise taxes to pay for these!

PM Thatcher’s influence in politics and economics was far-reaching, poisoning even the (New) Labour Party to the point where they embraced the worst aspects of capitalism and markets “free from the dead hand of the state”.

I make no apology for criticising (New) Labour’s lack of regulation and part in the economic collapse. After all those years of Thatcherism, the majority of the populace would have backed a balanced approach to the economy, not more of the same. Which is all that Labour appear to offer, even now!

John Hall, Pennithorne Avenue, Baildon