I write in response to the letters about asylum seekers written by Frank Avenell and Harry Willis (EA, July 5).

Last year asylum applications fell by 11 per cent from the year before, to 71,700. The vast majority of asylum seekers continue to come from countries such as Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia and Sri Lanka. Further, the vast majority of refugees flee to countries bordering their own country. Nearly two thirds of refugees are found in the Middle East and Africa.

Far from being the top destination for refugees, the UK ranked 12th in the EU in terms of asylum applications in relation to the overall population in 2001.

Contrary to Mr Willis' claim, a recent Home Office study in 1999-2000 showed that migrants in the UK (including refugees) made a net fiscal contribution of approximately £2.5 billion, worth 1p on income tax.

Apart from the question of refugees, there is of course the question of so-called economic migrants. If Mr Willis is concerned about his tax, perhaps he should turn his attention to policies such as the Common Agricultural Policy, which cost each person in the UK £4 a week back in 1993 (I have no more recent figure). European farmers can sell hugely subsidised food in third world countries, thus impoverishing poor farmers in these countries. The more the West pursues policies such as this, the more economic migrants there will be.

Finally, to suggest that the state of health and social security services in the UK, the world's fourth richest country, has anything to do with a tiny number of migrants, is ridiculous. The reason is decades of under-investment in public services.

Chris Thackray

Kent Road

Swindon