UKIP Hartlepool are currently delivering recruiting literature in selected Hartlepool Wards and getting a generally favourable response. However, today I received a reply from a lady who claimed to be the partner of a refugee who would have been killed in his own country had he remained there She didn’t want any more filthy racist literature through her door.

I have written back to her pointing out that UKIP has always supported the principle that asylum seekers should be welcomed in this country and that those in fear of their lives should be able to find a safe haven in the UK. Should UKIP ever abandon this principle then I assured her the party would lose the vast majority of its members, including me!

This lady is part of a huge group who fail to appreciate there is a considerable difference between Asylum and Immigration. Unfortunately the two are used almost interchangeably by many people. UKIP would welcome genuine black, yellow, white, brown, green, purple, blue, red (or any other colour or combination of colours) asylum seekers from anywhere in the world but would expect, for example, an Australian Citizen (of any colour) who wanted to live and work in the UK to obtain a work permit. How is this racist?

UKIP policy is that uncontrolled migration into the UK is not sustainable and we as a country must be able to control who comes here. This is not based in any way on race. It is based on space! We are a relatively small island and cannot absorb unlimited numbers of new residents.

I offered to meet with her to discus these points. I pointed out that she would no doubt react in horror at an allegation that she herself was actually a bigot. However, her attack on UKIP as an alleged racist organisation without any evidence to support this belief other than her own self righteous prejudices is itself an almost dictionary definition of a bigot!

I don’t expect any response to my offer. In my experience people who scream “racist” at every opportunity are so comfortable with their own self righteousness that they refuse to acknowledge any challenges to their prejudices regardless of any evidence to the contrary.