Brutal austerity has been a failure

I READ P Wilson’s wide-ranging letter (January 21) with interest, but can’t let this passing reference go unchallenged; “national finances are still in deficit from the last Labour government”.

In 2009, under Brown’s leadership, the current account deficit was £4.4 billion, or 2.8 per cent of GDP. It is now seven years since he resigned, and the current account deficit has soared to £96.2 billion, or 5.2 per cent of GDP. This is the highest amount since records began in 1948.

The Lib Dem/Con coalition and the present Tory government have together been in office for the last seven years.

With the backing of the right-wing press, they have managed to convince large numbers of us that their mismanagement of the economy isn’t their fault. They still continue to lay the blame for the deficit at Labour’s door. Paul Ringman, the US Nobel prizewinning economist, comments: “Why is the British government doing this? The Tories are using the deficit to downsize the welfare state. The official rationale is that there is no alternative.”

Osborne declared that his brutal campaign of austerity would reduce the deficit and “balance the books”.

It has been a dismal failure, and the results are plain to see. Thousands of people are just getting by, and rising numbers of people rely on food banks or are living on the streets.

It is a disgrace that one of the world’s richest nations cannot afford to feed and house its people. Barbara Moore Stoke Coventry