NOW that the General Election is only months away I find it rather interesting how many people have written to the Advertiser putting immigration at the top of the agenda.
The anti-immigration writers are hell-bent on blaming immigrants for the state of the economy, lack of jobs, shortages of houses and problems with the NHS.
It is a known fact that whenever the Government mishandles the economy someone has to take the blame and therefore the easy target is immigrants.
Why can’t these immigrant haters release that people from Eastern Europe and Commonwealth countries are being asked to come here, mainly to do menial and low-paid jobs that no one else wants to do, and have put more into the economy than they take out, a fact that has never been made public?
After the Second World War the British government launched a massive campaign in many Commonwealth countries appealing for people to migrate to England in order to rebuild the infrastructure and economy.
“The mother country needs you” was the slogan on the colourful advertising posters.
No mention has ever been made regarding the millions of Commonwealth citizens who fought alongside the British during the Second World War, including two and a half million Indians, who were all volunteers.
Now there are those who are jumping on the bandwagon using phrases such as ‘destroying’, ‘invading’, ‘swamping’, ‘threatening’, ‘influx’ and Enoch Powell’s ‘rivers of blood’ speech.
It is worth knowing that when Enoch Powell was health minister he visited many Caribbean islands recruiting nurses to work in England.
H MARTIN
Salisbury Street
Swindon
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