I found it incredible that Gordon Brown should stand at a podium in 2010 and declare that illegal immigrants are not welcome and then spout off (inaccurately) about various statistics that allegedly show asylum seeker numbers and others were reducing. What took him so long.

There has been a deafening silence from Labour for 13 years and now facing their most difficult test at the polls for a generation they decide to break their silence

Immigration is a big election issue for many and if handled badly will just play straight into the hands of extremists.

I do hope that in the election the parties will have a sensible mature rational debate over immigration policy. Electors deserve to know and it’s long overdue.

But I would plea that both electors and politicians look closely at the facts and figures and breakdown the various elements. We can’t treat illegal immigrants the same as legal immigrants ( from say other part of the EU) alongside asylum seekers etc.

There are wholly different circumstances and rights and responsibilities attributable and as the grandson of an immigrant, I have always been proud of my countries liberal approach to immigration and tolerance towards others that are fleeing persecution etc.

And, we must not forget the children caught up in the whole process. As a civilised, liberal, tolerant and caring nation we at the very least have a duty to deal with asylum applications speedily and fairly, keeping families together and not treating people as criminals in the meantime.

It’s a complex issue, not as black and white as the BNP and others would like to make it seem. So lets have a mature debate about immigration but lets not forget that we are dealing with vulnerable human beings as well.