THE lack of strategic thinking by our politicians is very serious as highlighted by the Daily Politics programme.  

Baroness Altmann (Conservative) stated that we need high immigration to combat and compensate for our increasingly ageing population. 

Politicians are only human but, nevertheless, we should expect more joined-up thinking. 

Basically, if you increase the population in the present to address an imbalance between young (tax-payers) and old (state pension and health provision dependant) then you will only delay and increase the problem for the future when the new increased population also grows older.  

It needs only a basic knowledge of exponential growth to see this. Some years ago, France promoted a rapid increase in the birth rate for the same end. 

Again, ill-conceived, but at least they have the space to accommodate such a mistake – we don’t. 

As the most densely populated large country in the world we are rapidly degrading our farming capacity, environment and living space chasing a financial utopia which will never be achieved.

This could only result in a government move to force the future population to be self-sufficient in pension and health care provision.

This may be easy for the well-off but difficult for the poor and will thus lead to further inequality in our society. 

Further, there was mention that the high levels of immigration would not be significantly reduced even when we have control after Brexit. 

The greatest effect would be on the quality of immigrant not quantity. 

I don’t think that the large portion of the population who are concerned about immigration levels and voted Brexit would accept this scenario.

Apart from the 170,000 a year net immigration freely moving to the UK from Europe, no-one is explaining why we are allowing 170,000 a year non-EU net immigration where we already have control.

We cannot go on finding the living space and creating the infrastructure for a new ‘Newcastle’-size population every year. 

We need some strategic thinking to plan for a rational and sustainable long term future – how to grow economically with quality of life without growing physically. 

We also desperately need some logical, strategic thinking on how to cope with our increasingly ageing population without destroying our country in the process.

– Walt Williams, Coleford.