MY immediate response to Clive Smith's moral responsibility letter was that we honour our moral responsibilities to those who flee to our nation in fear of their lives.

That said, one has to respect the views of those who are hostile to "asylum seekers," because many are in fact economic migrants, rather than "asylum" seekers.

No one can object to migration on moral grounds, but I would suggest our nation faces increasing practical difficulties in accommodating all those who would wish to make their homes here.

In the 1990s 850,000 people migrated here. The prediction from the Office of national Statistics is that 95,000 people a year will continue to come here to set up home.

There are currently 85,000 asylum seekers awaiting to have their applications decided, and of all those asylum seekers who have been refused permission to settle here, nobody knows how many remain, though it is estimated that there are 2,000,000 people, who have no right, in law, to be domiciled here.

In addition to those figures, our Government now plans to allow a further 100,000 people to make their homes here because of a skills shortage.

I would suggest, with those figures, and the fact that the Government is seeking to build another 4.3m houses, that there are severe practical difficulties in accommodating, and employing, everyone who wishes to make their home here.

N TAYLOR,

Worcester.