About 20 years ago, I regularly met with a colonel in the United States Army who was in England on a two-year secondment. He lived in Devizes and we worshipped at the same church.

The colonel and I would often discuss matters of mutual interest and more than once he expressed his professional view with words such as “your country has lost control of its borders”.

Because I knew that his military role gave him access to security information I felt some concern at hearing such comment.

I have often remembered the colonel’s words in the subsequent years.

Just a few weeks ago I read that the Home Office has lost track of 50,000 illegal immigrants that it wants to expel from the UK but it cannot find them to do so.

These figures only represent the illegal immigrants that the Home Office knew were in the UK. It does not include those that have entered illegally without being discovered. How many of these exist is anybody’s guess.

In more honourable times, this situation would probably result in the Home Secretary being forced to resign, but not today.

Those in charge of border control continue to put the telescope to their blind eye and the civil servant on whose watch this has happened will probably still get a knighthood in due course with the underlings getting their high-performance bonuses as usual.

Immigration is a complex issue with many elements to it. Not all of these represent a threat or a problem to this country.

In the late 1960s, I was in command of a sub fire station in Leicester protecting an area that was chosen by thousands of immigrants as a place to settle.

Most of these people were Asians that had been thrown out of Uganda by President Idi Amin.

I saw with my own eyes how this rapid influx of immigrants can place strain upon the infrastructure of a large and prosperous city.

I also saw the benefits the community gained from the skills and willingness to work very hard that most of those immigrants brought into the city.

A large number had business acumen that far exceeds that displayed by most of the participants in The Apprentice, for example.

However, what cannot be denied are the other impacts that immigration is having on UK society. I feel that most politicians, until very recently, have been unwilling to have out in the open the effect immigration is having on wage levels, demand for housing, hospital and GP services and schools.

One further limitation on informed debate on such issues is the tendency for anyone raising the subject of immigration in a negative light being accused of being a racist.

It must at last be evident to those in Parliament and Whitehall that immigration is no longer a subject that can be filed under ‘Too Hard’.

Although very late in the day to do so, those in government or who aspire to being so must appreciate the widespread public desire to see UK border controls put in place that really work and a fair but firm approach adopted to who is allowed to live and work here.

Measures have to be brought into use that give assurance that the present unsatisfactory situation has been brought under control.

We have been warned recently that the security threat is higher than it has been for years.

The very least that we can expect from those in power is that they will make it very difficult, if not impossible, for anyone plotting against this country to enter it and stay here.