After the House of Lords' report on immigration comes the YouGov survey carried out for Channel 4 Dispatches.

Eighty-three per cent told pollsters we have a population crisis.

Even 63 per cent of settled Commonwealth immigrants agreed with them.

Only 25 per cent said immigration had led to a rich and varied culture in Britain, compared with 58 per cent who said it had not.

I'll not bore readers with more numbers. By the time they read this letter, they will have viewed Channel 4's Dispatches for themselves.

The Government remains in denial about immigration, the looming banks and sub-prime mortgage crisis and growing price rises over a wide area of the UK economy (which may soon include council tax rebanding).

Could it have anything to do with credit reference agency Experian's survey, which rates the country's Parliamentary constituencies according to number of struggling households, in what they term 'sub-prime' category?

Most of the 5.1m struggling households in danger are in Labour strongholds. Therefore, Gordon Brown wants to wait until after the May elections, then present the country with a fresh set of fairy stories.

Only Switzerland - not a member of the EU - regulates immigration properly, by direct referendum.

It takes 12 years before Swiss citizenship can be applied for and the public can object to individual cases. Here, the promised referendum on the EU constitution (or Lisbon Treaty) was cancelled. Says it all really.

STEPHEN WARD Tudor Close Oxford