Unfortunately it is Susanna Pressel who is misleading people about the causes of the national budget deficit (ViewPoints, December 10).

In 1997 the deficit was approximately £350bn. Now it stands at about £850bn – an increase of £500bn. This is rising at about £10bn to £15bn per month. Of that total, £76bn was actually spent (about 15 per cent) in bailing out the banks – by buying shares in RBS and Lloyds TSB – so the majority is indeed Government overspend.

I am not going to argue whether the Government spend was good or bad, or whether the proposals by Keith Mitchell are good or bad – however there is not doubt that the debt is escalating far too fast, and unless we wish to dump more of our problems on our children then we have to curtail it – the only question is how.

The coalition has come up with a plan – it would be good if the Labour Party did their job properly as an opposition party and came up with logical coherent alternative budget proposals (which includes details of where they would and would not cut) rather than just indulging in negative soundbites.

Paul Wilson, Kennedy Close, Oxford