It hardly surprises me that Messrs Avenell and Willis (EA, July 5) have such disdain for statistics (you were quoting Disraeli, by the way, Mr Willis), since it gives them licence to say just about anything they like without the slightest intellectual justification.

Mr Avenell contests my figure of one per cent of all refugees making it to the UK, claiming that this is "contradicted both by government and responsible media services". I suppose that to make that challenge he must have the figures. It would have helped his case had he revealed them.

How does he know what the wishes of the majority of the population are? Does he run his own referendum?

Alas when it comes to the NHS, I have to fall back on statistics again. One third of all doctors in the UK and 13 per cent of all nurses are foreign born, and half of the extra staff employed by the NHS over the last decade qualified abroad. The source for these figures is the Home Office.

I think that the gist of Mr Willis' letter is that immigrants are simply a drain on the economy, with few skills (there are 2,000 qualified doctors waiting for their asylum applications to be processed), and claiming benefits. In fact, and I'm sorry it's another statistic, immigrants put 10 per cent more into the economy than they take out. That again is from the Home Office, not an institution that one would immediately associate with a bias in favour of asylum seekers.

David Rowlands

Goddard Avenue

Swindon