Low interest rates and immigrant labour sparked downturn

I WOULD have loved to have watched Andrew Wray’s face when he wrote his letter (Friday, July 17) about the cause of this recession.

He cannot be serious that it was the market deregulation policies of Reagan and Thatcher many decades ago which caused our current financial turmoil.

Both believed in free markets many decades ago but not deregulated banks and free-for-all money supply. If there is one American who really caused trouble, it was Bill Clinton who stipulated that Fanny Mae and Freddie Mac lend to “sub-prime” mortgage-holders. However, that was not the immediate cause of our present hardship. Mr Wray said: “It is a cruel myth that low international interest rates control the ability of the Government to regulate the lending policy of domestic banks”. That’s fine, because I did not say that it did (Letters, July 7).