IN REPLY to Mr D J Pritchard’s letter (1.12.14) where he aims to heap the responsibility for the global credit crunch on Labour. The facts speak for themselves. The financial credit crunch was caused by the banks, not Labour; the clue is in the description – global financial credit crunch.

Mr Pritchard tries to play down the importance of deficit reduction when the coalition’s self-stated purpose was, as Mr Osborne put it, to eliminate the deficit. We all know that he has failed. The deficit was £133 billion. It currently stands at a whopping £100billion. The fact is it was falling faster under Labour. As for borrowing, that has doubled under the Tories due to a fall in tax revenues, low wages and the slowest recovery since the 1840s. We all know that cuts have to made, but there are also choices to be made. Labour believe that those who can afford to contribute more should, while the Tories want the poorest to pay. Cllr Nigel Dix, Pontllanfraith