I have to respond to the flannel being trotted out by Peter Atkinson, the Labour candidate for North Portslade ward on your Letters page of April 9.

The bank crisis in this country and in the Western capitalist region was initially caused by offering mortgages to people in the US who it should have been obvious could never afford them if they were laid off from work or became ill.

Gullible investment bankers thought they could smell a quick profit and fell for a clever sell from the US. But when they realised they had squandered so much money that their banks couldn’t meet their obligations, they rushed to the Labour Chancellor to be bailed out with British taxpayers’ money.

He appointed a man to oversee the vast amount that was to be used but left out a condition that should have stipulated that no bonuses were paid until the mess was sorted out.

I do hope the working people of this country don’t forget this at the ballot box.

Stewart Gover, Wellington Road, Brighton

Does Peter Atkinson really think local and national voters suffer from selective amnesia?

He refuses to accept responsibility, like Labour does for its 13 disastrous years in power.

Labour likes to blame the “global crisis” for its ills under the not-so-prudent Gordon Brown. It was his relaxing of banking regulation, not Thatcher’s doings, which led to banks gambling billions on unsecured loans. Labour likes to blame others.

Peter says Ukip wanted to sell off whole chunks of the NHS – rubbish, along with wanting to abolish four weeks’ holiday and maternity pay.

He then mentions the flat rate of income tax. Yes, Ukip wants to take all those on the minimum wage and below £13,000 out of tax altogether. Labour doesn’t.

Remember that the Labour Party never raised the minimum wage above inflation during the last seven years of its tenure.

Lawrence Brewer, Hartington Road, Brighton