I WRITE in response to a recent letter: "Now a nation of givers and takers."

I agree with the writer who said that £200 is a lot to pay for a pair of spectacles. However, I would argue that a pair of glasses would cost around £200 regardless of how many asylum seekers are now settled in Britain. Asylum seekers did not privatise all the former publicly-owned utilities; they are not bringing Private Finance Initiatives into our hospitals or Public Private Partnerships and Education Action Zones into our schools. Neither are asylum seekers causing mass redundancies the length and breadth of Britain.

This is down to 18 years of the Tories followed by five years of New Labour. The idea that we would all be better off if asylum seekers were prevented from coming to Britain is absolute nonsense.

Only a fraction of Government expenditure is spent on asylum seekers (it should be much more). Indeed, much more is given to private business in subsidies -- on top of their vast profits. If the little that is spent on asylum seekers was no longer needed, only fat-cats inc. would benefit, from yet another tax break.

It is the fat-cats, and not asylum seekers, who have made Great Britain not such a "great" place for people to live in in the 21st Century.

David Sumner

Socialist Alliance

candidate for Burnden

Metfield Place

Bolton