POLITICAL parties of all hues in the United Kingdom have opinions on immigration, one of a number of burning issues causing Tony Blair and his government severe indigestion and embarrassment. And that's leaving aside the awful mess in the Middle East.

Right wingers, nationalists, call them what you will, insist we have more than enough immigrants, legal and otherwise, and David Blunkett should be doing more to close whatever loopholes he can. On the other hand, people who use statistics in more positive ways than alarmist say the UK desperately needs skilled workers in a variety of professions and trades, especially the National Health Service, and we should be doing our best to recruit and encourage such people to come here, not the opposite. The argument will run and run but while the influx from Europe and beyond occupies the attention of politicians, media commentators and general public, has anyone noticed the steady stream going the other way?

Within the last few years, seven couples from my circle of friends have sold up and fled; five to Spain, one to France and one to the USA. OK, so "fled" may be an exaggeration but I think you get my drift. Life in the UK no longer holds any attraction and, without exception, reports from their new homes and surroundings are very positive.

All agree they made the right move.

I'm not the only one who has seen family members and friends make this switch, and age doesn't seem to be a bar. Most of the emigrants I knew were of retirement age or approaching it when they decided to start a new life in another country.

Their reasons varied. The climate was obviously one, especially for those who headed to Spain. The punitive cost of living and harsh tax levels in the UK were another. But invariably the major one quoted was fear of crime, which seems to sour so many lives in what used to be this green and pleasant land.

So it came as no surprise to me that a two-year study by the European Commission's Urbaneye project revealed more than 90 per cent of British people thought high street CCTV cameras a good thing. Far from viewing them as an invasion of privacy, we Brits consider the "eye in the sky" essential in fighting crime.

This was disclosed at a CCTV industry conference in Manchester when these other astonishing facts emerged. There are now FOUR MILLION CCTV cameras in Britain, producing 10 MILLION videos of footage a day. This makes us the most "watched" nation in Europe, yet crime-related incidents continue to rise, if the columns of this and other papers are a barometer.

Just the other day a hearse containing a coffin and corpse was stolen in Bury. If the dead aren't safe, what chance have those of us still living?

The haemorrhaging of British nationals will continue until the government honours its pledge to get tough on crime. CCTV helps but stiffer sentences for the perpetrators, more bobbies on the beat and putting the welfare of victims before that of criminals would be better.