Poll: Should we tighten our borders to European Union immigration?

FOR: Steph Brett is founder and project manager of Branching Out at Wyldwoods, based in Broseley. She says we should embrace Europe.

I set up my community interest company to offer creative arts for well-being for people from all walks of life and I believe as a country we should support people no matter where they come from. I think we live in a multi-diverse world and we need to welcome people from other cultures and people who are disadvantaged.

We need to offer opportunities for everyone because we have these opportunities here to offer. After all, it is not like they are benefits seekers.

You hear all sorts in the news about European migrants being a drain on Britain's finances, but everyone I have encountered who has travelled here from Europe and everyone I know of is a very hard working person.

Should we tighten our borders to European Union immigration? Vote in our poll and have your say in the comment box below.

In fact, recent research by economists at University College London has revealed that Britain attracts the most highly skilled and highly educated migrants in Europe.

According to their work, we outperform Germany, but this is not often the view that is portrayed in the media and as such the view that British people have.

People come here to be educated because we have an excellent educational system and if they have been educated to the highest degree they may well stay here and contribute that knowledge to the British economy.

That same University College London research found that European migrants made a net contribution of £20bn to UK public finances between 2000 and 2011, with Eastern European migrants contributing 12 per cent of that. How can you argue that these people come here to get benefits in light of these statistics?

They come here to make a difference – to their own lives and also as a result they make a difference to this country. If we are European rather than just British then we need to open our doors to these people.

I have always considered myself to be a European rather than a British person. People are kidding themselves if they don't think they have any European in them. You don't have to look very far back in your history to find out that your past could involve many different nationalities.

Our company operates retreats for people with mental health issues, disabilities and similar conditions – anyone in receipt of personal budgets, people with learning disabilities and carers as well. When you come to a country that isn't your birthplace you can feel isolated, which can have a significant impact on your mental health. We need to be welcoming and supportive. Just put yourself in their shoes.

We are a small rural company so we have not had the opportunity to take on anyone yet but I would not hesitate to take on an EU immigrant if we were in a position to do so. We are working with the black and minority ethnic community, we feel it is important to be involved in groups for minorities, inviting people here and helping them.

If Britain leaves the European Union it would close an awful lot of doors to us. We are not independent at the moment, we rely on all sorts of different places for our imports and exports. Because of our diverse culture these days, what is going to happen to those that are already here if they suddenly say it is not allowed? If you put a cap on immigration it would have a devastating effect – you need to treat people with respect.

AGAINST: Christopher Gill is the former Tory MP for Ludlow, now a member of Ukip. He says that it is time the UK tackled immigration.

I well remember that as a young councillor in the 1960s, on the then Wolverhampton County Borough Council, I was threatened with being reported to the Race Relations Board for having had the temerity to point out that 25 per cent of all live births in local hospitals were to immigrant mothers.

It was a matter of fact, but it didn't suit the Labour aldermen and councillors to have the question of mass immigration spoken about.

They effectively closed down public discussion of this highly emotive subject by branding anyone brave enough to put their head above the parapet as a "racist".

For the past half century or more, the Labour Party in particular has been in favour of mass immigration into the UK.

But, together with others, it has hypocritically resisted all attempts to open up the subject to public debate – so much for freedom of speech!

Now the spell has been broken and people, who for decades have harboured serious reservations about the way in which mass immigration has altered not only the face of the towns and cities in which they live but also their job prospects, are waking up to the fact that it is only the UK Independence Party that is standing up for them.

Sad though it may be, Ukip is the only political party that is actually telling the truth and the only party that is speaking up for millions of previously disenfranchised people who, in the main, are neither racist nor necessarily opposed to immigration.

The government of the day could, if it wished, impose whatever restrictions it liked upon immigration from the rest of the world but can do absolutely nothing about immigration from the 27 other countries of the European Union.

The Prime Minister says that he will get the rules stipulating the free movement of people within the EU changed. To say that he is being economical with the truth is an understatement – Barroso and his successor as EU President, Juncker, have told him it isn't going to happen. German Chancellor Merkel and French President Hollande have said it isn't going to happen. In black and white, the European Treaties say it can't happen – so who's kidding who?

Whichever way you look at it, there is only one way to end uncontrolled immigration from Europe and that is to leave the EU. That is Ukip's policy – to leave the benighted EU and re-establish our own border controls so that the British people, through their elected representatives in the British Parliament, decide who is or is not allowed into our country.

That being said, let there be no doubt in readers' minds that Ukip is not intrinsically opposed to all immigration.

On the contrary, whereas the other parties take an ideological stance on this issue, we in Ukip take a common sense approach. If the country needs a bigger workforce then let's take in those with the skills and/or motivation to fill the vacancies. We will issue work permits to those who genuinely want to come here to create wealth for the country and for themselves and to help man our public services – but not at the expense of putting those already here on the dole by undercutting wage rates.

The three old political parties, regardless of what they might say to curry favour with the electorate, are committed to uncontrolled immigration from the EU. I believe that we should be able to become master in our own home.