Letter: Don't blame councils for banks' mistakes

There is a growing perception in the media that the current state of our public finances is due to the incompetence of local authorities and public agencies combined with the squandering of resources by the previous government.

Can I give an alternative view?

The Conservative Thatcher government encouraged enterprise, greed and selfishness.

This was seized upon by the banking sector, which acted with total irresponsibility. Huge loans were given to individuals with no prospect of repayment.

House prices soared, banks gambled in futures, and toxic loans were repackaged.

As the financial sector collapsed, it was saved, not by the market as the capitalist dogma would normally have insisted, but by public money.

1.2 trillion was given to the banks to save them from collapse, and more money was spent on "quantitative easing", as the Bank of England simply printed paper money. That is why we now have a mountain of debt.

That is why the public sector is facing cuts of 15-25 per cent in real terms, which will affect everybody living in Scotland, whether they are at school, in work, unemployed or elderly.

All of society will see a diminution of local services which they currently take for granted and which they enjoy.

This financial decimation has been caused by the banks and the financial sector, together with a failure of regulation.

In time, the banks should repay their debt, and we should rebuild our public services. My fear is that the Conservative-led government will simply cut taxes to reward the rich, and the bankers will again maximise their practice of paying themselves obscene bonuses.

(Cllr) Michael Foxley

The Highland Council

Inverness