WITH reference to Mr Ibrahim Kala's letter, April 29, and the paragraph which reads, "With our streets paved with gold, our ageing population, lack of skills manpower in many industries, the new arrivals are the most likely to contribute to Britain's economy and be the least likely to be a burden on our welfare state".

"With our streets paved with gold", might be a quite romantic metaphor; however, I doubt very much if many of the electorate of Crompton Ward would be inclined to see their streets with such a euphoric eye.

As a Labour party candidate for Crompton Ward, it might be worth Mr Kala noting that the ageing population he is talking about live in a country which has twice the population density of Germany, four times that of France, and 12 times that of the United States.

If it is the case that there is a shortage of skills in some areas of industry, then obviously there can be nothing wrong with importing those skills; the problem is being sure that individuals coming into the country have the abilities which correspond to the jobs they are here to do. For instance, I feel certain that, if Mr Kala had just bought himself a £5,000 set of kitchen units and they were installed incorrectly by someone who had been allowed into the country on the pretence of being a qualified joiner, it subsequently turning out that the person in question had in fact spent the last 10 years nailing pallets together in a ship yard, I don't think Mr Kala would be very pleased.

I am also not convinced that enough of an effort has been made by the Government to train or re-train the 1.4 million people already living in the country who are unemployed.

Anthony Backhouse

Independent Candidate

Crompton Ward

WITH reference to Mr Ibrahim Kala's letter, April 29, and the paragraph which reads, "With our streets paved with gold, our ageing population, lack of skills manpower in many industries, the new arrivals are the most likely to contribute to Britain's economy and be the least likely to be a burden on our welfare state".

"With our streets paved with gold", might be a quite romantic metaphor; however, I doubt very much if many of the electorate of Crompton Ward would be inclined to see their streets with such a euphoric eye.

It might be worth Mr Kala noting that the ageing population he is talking about live in a country which has twice the population density of Germany, four times that of France, and 12 times that of the United States.

If it is the case that there is a shortage of skills in some areas of industry, then obviously there can be nothing wrong with importing those skills; the problem is being sure that individuals coming into the country have the abilities which correspond to the jobs they are here to do. For instance, I feel certain that, if Mr Kala had just bought himself a £5,000 set of kitchen units and they were installed incorrectly by someone who had been allowed into the country on the pretence of being a qualified joiner, it subsequently turning out that the person in question had in fact spent the last 10 years nailing pallets together in a ship yard, I don't think Mr Kala would be very pleased.

I am also not convinced that enough of an effort has been made by the Government to train or re-train the 1.4 million people already living in the country who are unemployed.