I THINK John Smith of Cumbria has missed the point of my letter on asylum and immigration.

I made a remark about "what remains of the country's agriculture industry" with the emphasis on the first two words.

The fact is that the black market labour used by farmers in the Midlands (perhaps I should have qualified this) is drawn from illegal immigrants.

I have observed minibus- loads of Eastern Europeans and people from the Indian sub-continent picking crops in a local field, as well as knowing people involved in this practice.

As to Enoch Powell - surely he is one of recent history's greatest ironies? The same man who in the 1970s made the "rivers of blood" speech was responsible for the largest batch of mass immigration this country has every seen.

Asylum and immigration figures may be high, but to blame immigration for all our ills or to suggest that all immigrants are leaching scoundrels is grossly unfair and has no basis in fact.

BEN EATON,

Stourport-on-Severn

Worcestershire.