Refugees not the same as economic migrants

Carole Doggett

Barton, Hampshire SIR – Many of the sentiments expressed by members of the clergy and others regarding immigration are commendable (Letters, January 6), and in an ideal world we would indeed offer a “climate of sanctuary” for all.

However, it is undeniable that many of those who seek “asylum” in Britain are in reality economic migrants who have bypassed other European countries in order to get here.

The Government is still working to compensate for the free-for-all years under Labour, which put strain on public services, infrastructure and utilities. They must also acknowledge the public concerns which drove so many to vote for better immigration controls at the referendum in 2016 and the general election in 2017.

SIR – In early 1939 my father and aunt – aged five and seven, respectively – arrived in Britain from Vienna on the Kindertransport. They would spend nearly seven years with a family in Birmingham. The children were incredibly lucky: their mother had accompanied them disguised as a nurse. Most Kindertransport children did not see one or both parents again.

Most Austrian Jewish children did not escape the Nazis at all. I have been reading my father’s old papers from 1939: in June there were five letters from three different organisations, all working to get my grandfather to safety. None of these people had any connection with my family.

When I hear all the rhetoric about Brexit and the Blitz spirit, and “our finest hour”, I do not think of 1940. I think of 1939, when decent people were doing everything they could for people they did not know, simply because they needed help. Mark Walford London N1