AS a free-market libertarian, I favour the free movement of goods, capital and people.
I support the stance of Mr Elster (The Bolton News, January 6) in his view that immigrants can be of benefit to the economy, with one proviso.
Unfettered immigration and the welfare state are incompatible. You do not need to be a mathematician to understand that if half the population of Somalia decided to move to Britain, schools, hospitals and the benefits system would be overwhelmed.
There is little doubt that the welfare system is a magnet to immigration, such that, whether you are capable of work or not, you will be looked after. Recent studies have indicated that the GDP increase provided by immigrants is outweighed by the costs of welfare to their families.
If the welfare system were drastically altered, some immigration would be discouraged and in that I do not include hard working folk like Mr Elster's wife.
First of all, I would make all health care insurance-based. In doing this we would follow what the rest of the world does. If our health service were the envy of the world, as some deluded souls believe, the rest of the world would follow us. They have good reason not to.
Secondly, unemployment benefit would not be paid indefinitely. After a set time, it would cease. This would encourage our own feckless youth to seek work, rather than see benefits as a career option.
These two measures would allow a huge reduction in income tax, making health care easily affordable.
They would also allow us to open our doors to all, in the knowledge that only those determined to work would come in.
David Lonsdale, Benalmadena Pueblo, Malaga, Spain
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