IN the early 1980s, Britain was still a great industrial nation, with six million workers in industry. Now there are 2.75 million.

Moreover, many of our best companies have been sold into foreign hands, such as ICI and Cadbury.

To keep going, various governments have tried different solutions – housing booms, consumerism and financial engineering. These alone will not suffice, as is now clearly evident.

One thing is clear: we don’t need many more people, so immigration must be cut to the bone.

The ‘border controls’ were shown on a TV programme recently. An African man with a forged document was held at Heathrow Airport.

The officials thought he was in his 30s, but he stuck to his story that he was 15, and said his parents had been killed in a house robbery.

The advised him to apply for asylum and guided him to social services. Guess what? He left his hostel, and vanished, never to appear on the radar again.

Paul Somerville, Boroughbridge Road, Knaresborough.