IHAVE worked abroad for a number of years, mainly in Commonwealth countries.

In every case, I had to have a permit or contract to work, and was only allowed to take with me my immediate family.

I was not allowed a vote and residential status was virtually impossible to obtain.

All the years I worked abroad, I continued to pay my DSS contributions, although I received no direct benefit from them.

Recently, there has been great political debate about the future of our Welfare State and it has been shown that illegal immigrants, asylum-seekers (how did they get here?), foreign networks and individuals etc. receive benefits far greater than the average claimant without ever contributing to the system.

In fact, it is estimated that a very high percentage of all immigrants become a state liability shortly after arriving in the UK.

If taxes were raised, the same people would still continue to receive benefits of every description. It is small wonder that the Welfare system is in a parlous state, but there are remedies, at least for the above situations.

R BRACEWELL (Mr), Ormerod Street, Worsthorne, Burnley.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.