After the recent elections, as expected, we see UKIP climbing the ladder to dizzy heights.
Of their ideas, the most worrying relate to immigration and its effect on the migrant workforce. Let me make it crystal clear: without our Eastern European friends horticulture and agriculture could not survive.
For some reason we are unable to make these jobs attractive to our own youngsters, possibly because they are not offered as an option in schools, yet they are not poorly paid and there are a great number of career opportunities.
Yes, Spalding looks an unattractive market town these days, but where have we gone so wrong? Large groups of foreign nationals congregating in the streets is intimidating, and there is a police presence, but they don’t seem to disperse the groups or discourage them from drinking in the streets. There have been complaints from readers about unsightly shop windows and frontages, but is it beyond the council to tell the occupants to smarten up?
Local growers and packers provide an enormous amount of employment which helps our local economy to thrive. These industries need the migrant workforce but the situation requires managing. Could we not make Spalding an example and show other areas that are suffering similar problems that we can all live harmoniously and have a town to be proud of?