HOWARD PERRY asks who I hold responsible for the housing debacle (Letters, January 27).

I blame all those politicians and bureaucrats who introduced so many ill-conceived policies and regulations that they destroyed the incentive to build new homes. All three main political groups are culpable to one degree or another.

Local authorities were given some discretion in the matter of affordable housing requirements. In York it was the Labour group who initiated and then vigorously pursued the ridiculous 50 per cent demand which did so much damage long before the credit crunch came along as a convenient excuse for the creators of this disaster.

Mr Perry claimed vindication of local Labour affordable housing policies without understanding the extent of the catastrophe or the responsibility that his party holds in causing it.

Those of us who used to build houses know only too well the true situation: that house building in York crashed as a direct consequence of Labour policies. We also know that construction is not going to surge ahead as predicted by politicians and other commentators who have never built anything themselves and just don’t know what they are talking about.

John Jones Former house-builder, Sand Hutton Manor, York.