Hear, hear Barkes!

For too long we have been at the mercy of political correctness.

Our small town of Bognor Regis is clearly a major attraction to those now termed ‘migrant workers’.

As I walk from my home in Bersted to the town centre, I hear so many languages I feel like an alien in my own town.

Like many I have lived and worked in this area since ever leaving school at the age of 16. I have brought up my family here and never ceased working and paying my dues.

As Mr Barkes rightly points out, it is not about race per se, it is about fairness.

Fairness to those who: have lived and worked here all their lives, have contributed huge sums to the British economy over many years, now face a future with diminished and/or delayed pensions.

Our local services can only support limited numbers.

Language barriers preclude full communication with many of these migrants putting additional strain on local resources.

Hospital staff and police, for example, wrestle with migrants’ failure to communicate in English.

Some even ‘forget’ the English they do know at crucial moments!

It is appreciated that many of these migrants work for low wages but they also receive ‘top-up’ benefits.

I would suggest a full investigation is needed into:

a) where these people work and for whom;

b) how much they are paid;

c) how much they receive in benefits and/or benefits in kind;

d) how much of their earnings remains within the British economy;

e) how much of their earnings is sent out of the country.

Some equations must be balanced.

To re-quote Mr Barkes: “It’s not about race – it’s about fairness,” and it’s about economics.

Our local services can only take so much.

It’s also about loyalty and patriotism. Loyalty to those who have paid so much into the country and now have to wait for services behind these new arrivals.

So let us stop being so politically correct! Let’s stand up for those who paid so much into the British economy before the whole infrastructure buckles under the strain to the point of total collapse!

Mrs Green,

Bognor Regis