MIKE Spry (Adver letters, August 6) carefully avoids having to acknowledge the fact that Gordon Brown indulged the financial sector by encouraging them to take ‘even more risk’ or by putting in place a ‘light touch’ form of regulation, which ultimately proved to be no regulation whatsoever.

Instead he asks me to comment on a number of other subjects, some which were not mentioned in his letter. I am happy to offer a view.

1. Food banks: I deplore the need for food banks but welcome the support they give to people in short term need. Food banks have been a part of British society for many years and I am sure there will always be a need for them as poverty and need will never be eradicated, despite good intentions.

2. Tax cuts for the ‘super wealthy’ which do not number ‘millions’ has proven to raise more in revenue than the alternative proposed by Labour. The super wealthy can move from country to country (as has happened with French taxpayers). The higher rate imposed by Labour only weeks before they lost the 2010 election was recognised as a stunt. More important than indulging in the politics of envy regarding the distribution of the tax burden, is the need to make sure HMRC is doing its job properly. At present they fail to collect more than £30bn of due tax every year, the greatest proportion from large businesses.

3. Thatcher did indeed set the bankers free – a big mistake, but one which was eagerly endorsed and compounded by Gordon Brown who learned nothing from history and gave bankers even more freedom to cheat and ‘steal’; he did so because he wanted the tax revenues generated from the bankers’ greed.

4. I have written to my MP asking for bankers, in particular the ennobled chairmen and be-knighted executives, to be brought to book for their actions. The latest court case of a middle ranking trader might satisfy the blood lust of some but it fails to impress me, as it ignores the responsibility of those at the top of the pile.

5. Offshore tax avoidance: If this is wrong then anyone who invests in an ISA or holds savings in an investment ‘overseas’ is guilty of morally repugnant behaviour. It is perfectly legal to hold money offshore and avoid having to pay income tax. Morality and legality should be conjoined at the point the law is made, if this had been the case when legislation on offshore holdings was enacted, then the morality of avoiding tax would have been covered. As it is, the law allows offshore holdings to provide a tax free income.

Finally, Mike makes a claim which really cannot be ignored – he states with certainty that over the past two centuries ‘working people’ – whoever they are – with the trade unions and the Labour Party, have brought all the people in the UK a better and longer life.

If I read this correctly, Mike doesn’t accept any positive impact on social welfare made by any other political party.

In my experience, even the most die-hard Labour Party supporter would not make such a claim.

As the Labour Representations Committee (before it became the Labour Party) was only established 115 years ago, it is difficult to imagine how it has had an impact on society for 200 years.

DES MORGAN Caraway Drive, Swindon