Reader’s letter: MP does not speak for me on immigration

Our local MP Robert Jenrick, with his increasingly hard line rhetoric on immigration, always purports to speak for the majority of us.

He certainly does not speak for me, nor for many whom I know.

This government's latest plans to stop foreign workers bringing their children and spouses into the UK are both cruel and counterproductive — it means they are less likely to come here, making it even harder to staff vital services.

I have a family member living locally with a severe mental disability, who is looked after in her own home by a dedicated team of carers all of whom come from Africa or Asia.

These people are working here legally, plugging gaps that would otherwise be vacant.

Even among the relatively small numbers risking a Channel crossing, a majoriy are eventually judged to have a legitimate right to asylum or refugee status.

Why is immigration such an issue?

We need people because we are an ageing population with a relatively low birthrate — just like most European countries.

We take proportionately less people in than other places like Germany, Italy, Greece and Turkey.

I do wish our government and Mr Jenrick would concentrate their efforts on sorting out NHS waiting lists and strikes on the railways rather than flirting with trashing our international obligations.

I am not hopeful. — C. ADAMS, Newark.