SIR – Harry Godwin is right to highlight New Labour’s appalling record on immigration over the past 12 years (Letters, February 12), drawing attention to newspaper reports about Andrew Neather, former speech writer for Tony Blair.

In October last year, Mr Neather revealed how Government ministers secretly decided to change the face of Britain by allowing mass immigration “in order to make the UK truly multicultural”. This policy never appeared in Labour’s election manifestos of 1997 or 2001.

Ministers have since denied Neather’s claims, but Migrationwatch UK has obtained an early draft of the policy from October 2000 which makes it clear that increasing immigration was a key part of New Labour’s social policy.

And Government figures show that net immigration increased from 142,000 in 1998 to an astounding 510,000 by 2006.

This is nothing short of social engineering for purely political purposes because research has shown that immigrants are more likely to vote Labour.

We urgently need a national debate about immigration and how it impacts on local communities, but this won’t happen because all three political parties refuse to discuss the subject, despite the fact that opinion poll after poll shows overwhelming support for such a debate.

Alan O’Day Scott, Idlecroft Road, Bradford