The Refugee Council is campaigning to "Let Them Work" and end the destructive policy that created this unfortunate case.

The Government's contradictory policies create a lose-lose situation by stopping asylum seekers from working: those seeking asylum are left dependent on the state, the taxpayer is forced to support them, and society as a whole loses out on the talent and skills refugees have to offer.

Instead of admitting the policy is misguided, the Government spends money criminalising people who wish to support themselves. The crackdown on illegal working has brought the absurdity of the situation into sharp focus – why do we have policies that directly contradict one another?

People who claim asylum in the UK do not want to have to rely on state handouts. Work for them is a way to support themselves, retain their dignity and give something back to society. Asylum seekers can work, and they want to work. We are just asking the Government to let them.

From: Coun Keith Moore, Hilda Street, Goole.

THE Tories cannot seem to make their mind up about immigration, one day they are saying we are being swamped the next we hear MPs like Damien Green (Yorkshire Post, November 11) claiming limits on migrant workers, if they are introduced, will lead to care home closures.

The fact of the matter is migrant workers are here because they are able to be exploited as a cheap source of labour, they are our modern slave trade, this however will change once the Migrant Agency Workers Directive becomes law as these workers will have to be paid equally to British workers, and that is long overdue. The problems with the care sector has been compounded over the last 23 or 30 years by successive governments who are all guilty of failing our vulnerable elderly citizens, anyone who has been in a care home will have recognised understaffing and inadequate training.

Care workers, whatever their ethnicity, are the most undervalued workers in the country and society should hang its head in shame at allowing this.

Same old attitude

From: Terry Palmer, South Lea Avenue, Hoyland, Barnsley.

WILLIAM Snowden (Yorkshire Post, November 11) gives us a history lesson on how marvellous his mentor, Margaret Thatcher, was in the 1980s.

Yet, as expected, he omits to inform us all that this woman, "at a stroke", wiped out steel making, mining, engineering and the rest while whole communities were even starved into submission by her in her quest to bring ordinary working people to heel.

Then we come to Marjorie H Gill who seems to care nothing for Britain and the world recession, her letter (November 12) pleads with us to feel pity for her and the fact that cutting interest rates means that she and the rest of us will lose out on interest on our savings. Well tough! It would seem the "I'm all right Jack and stuff the rest" attitude is still alive and kicking.

From: Allen Jenkinson, Lipscomb Street, Milnsbridge, Huddersfield.

CUTTING the base rate from 4.5 to three per cent is not 1.5 per cent, it is the equivalent of one third. Nick Leeson went to jail for
bringing a bank down. How long before we see cases coming to court of those who have virtually brought a country to its knees? A cut of such severity (Yorkshire Post, November 7) is seen as bordering on panic stations.

Prince's Trust pays tribute to vital role of young


From: Peter Branson, regional director, The Prince's Trust, Yorkshire and Humberside.

DURING these challenging economic times, it is often young people who suffer most.

In Yorkshire and the Humber, more than 100,000 young people aged between 14 and 30 are long-term unemployed or have underachieved at school, a figure representing a tenth of this age group.

In their short lifetimes, many of these young people will have already been written off as "losers" and others branded "unloved" or "out of control".

Of course, we cannot forget the young people who have so tragically lost their lives through gun or knife crime this year.

But we all have a responsibility to tell the truth about our nation's youth.

This week, from today until November 21, marks The Prince's Trust's first national Youth Week to highlight the positive difference that young people make to communities across Yorkshire.

All too often, their work in the community goes unnoticed under a shadow of negative headlines in the national media.

Research shows that teenagers are more likely to volunteer than any other age group. Young people on Prince's Trust programmes have also contributed almost £100m to their local communities through tens of thousands of community projects across the UK.

This figure is especially significant when you remember that these young volunteers will have either struggled at school, have been in care, have a history of long-term unemployment or have been in trouble with the law.

Their successes are testament to the fact that young people do care about where they live and can turn their lives around with the right support.

Last year in Yorkshire and Humber, the trust supported more than 3,000
disadvantaged young people in need of a second chance. Eight in 10 went
on to access work, education or training.

If we stop believing in our young people, young people will stop believing in themselves.

They hold the key to our region's future economic prosperity.

To pledge support for young people, visit www.princes-trust.org.uk/youthweek

Time to address the imbalance over pensions


From: Richard D Gledhill, Woodhall Park Drive, Stanningley, Pudsey, Leeds.

EACH day the economic news worsens. The newspapers, quite rightly, focus on business closures, job losses, declining house prices and house repossessions.

According to Gordon Brown, we were supposed to be better placed to face the economic downturn than almost any other developed country. We now know it will hit us harder than any other. So much for economic prudence Gordon, you've mismanaged the economy and now we are all going to hurt. Well, not quite.

There have been several letters following up my views on the unfairness of the public sector final salary pensions.

While many of us watch our prime asset, our house, decline in value, it is fair to say that for many people the money tied up in property is never released.

We all need a place to live and therefore a house still has to be purchased which ties up our money. The pain is for people who bought recently and now face negative equity. They are the real sufferers and their anguish will last for many years.

Many of us however, face an even greater loss, and that is through rapidly declining pension fund values. But more specifically, defined contribution fund values and not final salary funds. By whatever house values have tumbled, pension values have fallen even further. Most of my provision is through defined contribution funds and these have never even recovered to pre 2000 levels.

Because we have had two collapses of world stock markets in less than nine years, the impact on pension funds has been horrendous. Further, this impact is the same for final-salary funds, ie, public sector, but they are immune from the consequences and guarantee that their income in retirement will be paid according to the individual's length of service.

Just a few short years ago, the then Minister for Work and Pensions, Alan Johnson, had an opportunity to do something about the huge cost to the economy (ie the public) of maintaining public sector final salary pensions. But he bottled it, fearing repercussions from the trade unions.

This imbalance is no longer acceptable. To be hit twice by the consequence of recession and yet see protection in the public sector of pension provision is neither moral nor fair.

It is high time that this issue was addressed and the continuing silence from politicians (who have the most advantageous final salary scheme in the country) speaks volumes of their attitude to this issue. Perhaps there is a an MP who would table a Bill to begin to address this issue.

Transport fear on patient care

From: Rick Sumner, Cliff Road, Hornsea.

I AM concerned at the statement by the health authorities that transferring patients from Bridlington to Scarborough will provide better facilities.

I use this road often. I have seen it closed by snow and very recently by a road accident and in the summer by the sheer weight of traffic. Diversions alongside single track lanes are not conducive to an efficient ambulance service.

Like many people, I would rather have a moderately good service I can get to than a wonderful one out of my reach.

Pavement parking

From: P Clansdell, Cyprus Drive, Thackley, Bradford.

WHEN the authorities have clampdowns on vehicle speeds/insurance (Yorkshire Post, November 10), why do they never appear to take action against vehicles parked on pavements and verges, contrary to the Highways Act?

Parking on pavements, in many cases, is more dangerous to pedestrians than speeding etc, especially to the blind, wheelchair users and parents with pushchairs and prams, all of whom are frequently forced into the road by selfish drivers.

BBC 'mafia'

From: P Smith, Hill Top Crescent, Doncaster.

BILL Carmichael (Yorkshire Post, November 7) compares the activities of TV licensing to a restaurateur whose service is so bad that he has to compel his customers to eat tripe. He is, of course, right.

The BBC's system of compelling people to buy services they don't want at prices they feel disinclined to pay, buttressed by a close relationship with politicians like Gordon Brown and Tessa Jowell, is an extortion racket.

It is not dissimilar to those practised by the various south Italian mafias in association with politicians and legislators in Rome and the bloated and self-serving bureaucracies they sustain.

No apology

From: Arthur Quarmby, Holme, Holmfirth.

NOW that the Government is half-heartedly attempting to place some restrictions on the sale of alcohol (Yorkshire Post, November 10), I am waiting to hear some politician say: "Sorry, we got it wrong. We thought we would cure binge drinking by accepting 24 hour drinking. We thought that the result would be the responsible consumption of alcohol. We were wrong."

But I had better not hold my breath; the word "sorry" does not exist in the politician's vocabulary.