I refer to Mr Elsmore's letter and the 'Opinion' in the Review dated September 23, 2011.

The UK Independence Party's arguments against mass and uncontrolled immigration are based on the strains placed on our economy and infrastructure as a result of overcrowding and unem­ployment. The argument is about space not race. I believe that the following points are very relevant although they are not a definitive list:

Population in this country has increased by 3.5 million people in the last 15 years as a result of mass immigration causing great strain on our education and welfare systems including the NHS.

The National Institute of Economic and Social Research reports that immigration adds less than 0.1 per cent annually to the UK's economy.

Unemployment in this country is now 2.5million people or 7.9 per cent of the working population

When supply exceeds demand prices will always be forced down and this is just as true for wages when there aren't enough jobs to go round.

Apart from Luxembourg, the UK is the most densely populated country in the EU.

The country is very short of housing stock. Hence the government's attempts to alter the planning laws with regard to the Green Belt etc. By the way if they succeed it will make it much harder for HOOF to ensure that there is no erosion of the Statutory Forest – think of all those extra planning applications to fight.

According to some Government reports there are over one million illegal immigrants in the UK. As employers are only allowed to employ legal immigrants by definition the illegal immigrants cannot be contributing anything to the economy. All they do is cause extra strain on our resources.

The UK Independence Party is a non-racist, libertarian party which believes in controlled immigration and the future success of the United Kingdom.

If mass and uncontrolled immigration is so good for the UK, as is claimed by Gordon Elsmore and your editorial, then presumably the countries from which the immigrants come must be suffering as a result. For information in 2010 the population actually fell in Lithuania, Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary. I would have thought it would be better to encourage people to remain where they are and work to strengthen their country rather than let the UK, as you claim, take advantage of these countries.

Finally, could I please make a plea to the editor of the Review that as he/she works in an industry that prides itself on its investigative journalism that he/she at least carry out a reasonable amount of research into both sides of an argument before expressing their apparently one sided views.

To misquote Winston Churchill: "Some nail – some head."

– Colin Guyton, UKIP secretary, Forest of Dean Branch, The Great Barn, Park Farm, High Street, Ruardean.