IN last weeks letters column Mr Elsmore wrote to criticise UKIP's immigration policy.

His views were then echoed by your 'Opinion' column as 'hitting the nail on the head'.

I am afraid it was more that the two of you hit the thumb with your ignorant comments.

Those, like yourselves, who favour mass immigration to Britain always justify their views with the perplexing argument that we have always been 'a nation of immigrants'.

Quite what this has to do with the recent huge and unsustainable level of entry I fail to understand.

Your argument is spurious anyway, because until the 1950s the vast majority of the population was of North European origin, primarily Saxon, Norse and Celtic.

The only real immigration, such as that of the Huguenots and the Jews were small in scale and easily absorbed by the indigenous population.

Moreover, these immigrants largely adopted the ways and practices of their hosts and rapidly became harmoniously integrated.

Contrary to your non too subtle implication, UKIP are not against immigrants as individuals, but are against the sheer scale of this population movement.

I am sorry if Mr Elsmore finds statistics a problem and this is usually the case when they undermine your argument, but England is now one of the most densely populated countries in the world (Office for National Statistics 2009). Our population growth is almost entirely fuelled by immigration. This growth is putting an enormous strain on housing, roads, public transport, the NHS, education and all public services.

UKIP also believes that mass immigration is turning Britain from a relatively homogeneous community into a patchwork of disparate ethnic groups that do not integrate or assimilate into the host population, preferring to keep their own distinct identity by means of language, dress, customs and religion. If not addressed or, worse still, tacitly encouraged this is undoubtedly a recipe for civil conflict.

Mr Elsmore, supported by your 'Opinion' column implies that anyone who opposes their views is a racist or Nazi. Again this is another ploy to prevent a proper public debate on the subject. 

Your mumbo jumbo about gene pools was most bizarre and totally irrelevant to serious discussion. If anything your views that our young people are too lazy to take manual work is far more racist in tone. It seems that it is acceptable for you to be racist against the white working class.

However, we are used to the political elite looking down their noses at us 'white trash' so will treat it with the contempt it deserves.

If the jobs that you highlight were decently paid then I am sure a lot more of our people would 'get up in the morning' and take them. Perhaps you should take this up with those wonderful altruistic businessmen that you seem to eulogise.

The British people have never been asked if they are in favour of mass immigration or in favour of whole areas of their nation being changed out of all recognition.

By the same token they have never been asked if they want to give their sovereignty away to the EU.

At forthcoming elections only UKIP will give the people of the Forest the chance to enter into an honest debate on these subjects.

– Richard Leppington, UKIP, New Road, Bream.