Letters to the editor: Theresa May has lost the plot on migrants

Theresa May
AFP/Getty Images
8 October 2015
WEST END FINAL

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I am shocked that Theresa May is now promising to get tough on failed asylum-seekers, as if she’d been made Home Secretary yesterday.

She has been in the job since 2010 and nothing has changed.

Statistics have proved that she has been unable to reduce immigration and kick out failed asylum-seekers. She is treading a dangerous political path and her failure to sort out things will prove to the electorate her inability to be an effective leader.

Asylum is a complex issue and she cannot control what happens in countries where asylum-seekers are coming from. If she is a tough leader, how can she give temporary refuge to asylum cheats? This clearly shows weaknesses in her bid to sort out the mess.

I am also disappointed that some refugees are referred to as “bogus refugees”. They are people who have gone through the Home Office interviews and courts to be recognised as refugees. Instead of blaming refugees, Ms May should concentrate on sorting out the immigration chaos that she has failed to deal with in the past five years.
Handsen Chikowore

Theresa May’s speech flew totally in the face of the economic reality of immigration. As any economist worth their salt will tell you, Britain has a rapidly ageing population and needs all the migrants it can get.

If Ms May is concerned about low pay and migrants undercutting indigenous workers’ wages and conditions, there are two measures that can be taken to remedy the situation — raise the minimum wage to the National Living Wage and vigorously enforce it, as well as strengthen trade unions and get incoming workers to join up. Not only would this stop the undercutting of wages, it would promote community cohesion.
Paul Donovan

Theresa May was right to highlight the pressures that refugees and migration are placing on the UK population and the importance of regaining control of our borders.

If any proof is needed that the population of London is out of control, you need look no further than the London Borough of Newham, where the current population is 308,000 — that’s higher than several cities including Newcastle and Brighton.

Newham is not alone, though — there are other London boroughs with populations in excess of 300,000. It’s time Ms May did something to help reduce this overcrowding.
Tony Swenetsky

The Home Secretary says we should take into account the fact that many migrants have not sought asylum in the countries they have passed through to get to the UK. There’s a difference between migrants, refugees and asylum-seekers — it is not clear if she knows what that is.
Chris

Oxford Street has to be pedestrianised

I am delighted that all the leading candidates in the mayoral election are committed to pedestrianising Oxford Street. However, the illustration you used to accompany the article, a mock-up of a vehicle- free street, was commissioned by me for my campaign to obtain the Labour nomination. Using it in conjunction with a picture of the Tory candidate, Zac Goldsmith, may have misled your readers into thinking it was his initiative.

It was not. While I failed to obtain the nomination, a key focus of my campaign was to promote a vehicle-free vision of the most polluted street in Europe, an idea I first wrote about in the Standard in 1998.

Pedestrianisation is essential both to ensure the street is no longer a health hazard to shoppers and shop staff, and to guarantee its long-term commercial future.

There are obstacles to overcome such as rerouting buses and providing access in side streets for taxis but none is insuperable, especially with the arrival of Crossrail in 2019. I am now supporting Sadiq Khan’s campaign for the mayoralty knowing he will implement this.
Christian Wolmar

Silvertown tunnel means pollution

On Monday Transport for London announced further details on the Mayor’s plans for the £1 billion four-lane Silvertown Tunnel beneath the Thames in east London. TfL claims there is huge backing for this project among local businesses on both sides of the river — the reality is there will be very significant opposition.

East Londoners already have to put up with air polluted beyond European legal limits. More roads will make things worse and there is growing opposition to these damaging plans.

The next mayor must cancel this dangerous, wasteful scheme and invest instead in cycling, walking and public transport schemes. I urge Londoners to reject these proposals.
Darren Johnson AM, London Assembly Green Party member

Jack Skillen of Living Streets wants us to walk or cycle more. Recent research by King’s College London and University College London shows that air pollution levels in parts of central London are double the EU limit. Therefore walking and cycling without wearing a face mask must be one of the worst things to do.

We need a city where people can afford to live near their work without having to commute on the Underground or drive. Our political masters have failed to build enough affordable housing for ordinary working people and never fulfil their promise to do something about this crisis. When will they ever learn?
Ken Hayes

Bag charge boosts dementia research

We are delighted that four of the UK’s biggest supermarket chains have announced that they will put proceeds from the 5p bag charge to help fight dementia [October 5].

In the UK alone one person develops dementia every three minutes — there is no cure and few effective treatments. Yet the money spent on dementia research doesn’t even reach 0.3 per cent of the £26 billion economic impact of the condition.

We need more investment in care research as well as biomedical research. We would like to thank the supermarkets and their customers for this crucial investment.
Dr Doug Brown, director of research and development, Alzheimer’s Society

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