Dear [MP],

As a law-abiding citizen and taxpayer, I worry about the impact of the failure of the government to get a grip of immigration and to control and reduce it, as has been promised repeatedly at election time.

This abject failure is hurting communities like mine more and more, and putting us under unbearable pressure. Mass, uncontrolled immigration puts huge strains on housing, public services and enables employers to keep down the wages of the lowest paid.

Immigration and the children of migrants has been behind the increase of nearly 7 million people (85%) of the 8 million people our population grew by over the past 20 years. Our population is now rapidly closing on 70 million. England is already twice as crowded as Germany and three times as crowded as France.

Immigration also accounts for one out of every two additional homes needed in England. According to Migration Watch UK, if the current massive levels of net migration continue, the need for additional homes will increase. There is already a need to build a home every five or six minutes just for new arrivals.

The failure to exert control of both illegal and legal immigration will lead to yet more precious green space being lost forever.

The government was elected in 2019 on the back of clear promises to exert control over immigration and also to bring it down. Instead of delivering reductions, the government has done the opposite. Immigration has gone up since Brexit instead of down, with a record 1.4 million visas issued for people to come and live in the UK in 2022.

The system has been loosened to enable employers to import a limitless number of cheaper workers from all over the world without even having to advertise in the UK first, while the annual cap on work permits was abolished. Without a cap, there can be no real control.

We also have had vast increases in backdoor, chain migration by dependants and record level of refugee resettlement. Since 2015, almost half a million people, including family members of refugees already here, have been given refuge. This at a time when, according to Priti Patel, the former Home Secretary, “we do not have the infrastructure or accommodation”.

Employers should do more to raise wages and improve working conditions in order to attract British people into jobs, rather than rely on cheaper labour from overseas as they now do.

It is also time that universities, especially the lower-ranking ones, stopped relying on the income from the higher fees they can charge overseas students who  stay on for two years after graduating to do any job.

According to YouGov’s latest polling (28th May 2023), 60% of those surveyed thought immigration over the past 10 years had been too high. Just 8% thought it had been too low. More than 7 in 10 say that the government is handling immigration poorly (including 79% of Conservative voters). Immigration is among the top issues of concern for all voters but especially Conservatives. The issue of immigration, the government’s shambolic efforts to deal with it and inept implementation of the law, concern me deeply.

The all but open border on the Channel coast and the total failure to stop the small boat crossings is a shameful blot on a sovereign, seafaring, nation like ours. Then there’s the huge number of questionable asylum seekers, failed asylum claimants and immigration offenders, including serious criminals, who are being allowed to disappear into the criminal shadow world or to add to the already burgeoning illegal population (according to Pew Research, the largest in Europe).

Meanwhile, immigration enforcement has been weakened and is close to disappearing all together. This must be reversed. We need more investment in border security, more robust leadership, tighter measures to prevent absconding and more removals of those who have no right to be here.

It is time for the government to deliver on its promises to control and reduce immigration. The public have been ignored for far too long.

Please do all you can to raise these issues with the government and make the case for proper immigration control and a serious reduction in the numbers now pouring into this already very crowded island.

Your name and address.