YOU report (April 13) that immigration will be high on the Conservatives election agenda. It would be good if there was some honesty on this subject.

Mr Cameron ought to point out that only a tiny proportion of Job Seekers Allowance (JSA) claimants are EU nationals: around 2.9 per cent, compared with 4.5 per cent of the native population. Just 1.0 per cent of Polish nationals living in the UK claim JSA.

Only between 0.7 and 1.1 per cent of the NHS budget is spent on non-active EU migrants.

Under EU law, migrants cannot simply arrive here and claim benefits.

They have to have worked for a minimum of three months. If they arrive and do not find work, and cannot support themselves, after three months they already face deportation.

Finally, claiming benefits and using the NHS is not one-way traffic.

Government figures estimate that 1.4m UK citizens live abroad in EU countries.

It is likely that at least half of these are retired and are substantial users of health care systems abroad, especially in Spain.

The most important point is a positive one: many reports confirm that EU migration is a major boost to the UK economy, and EU migrants contribute far more than they draw out in benefits.

Simon Sweeney, York Management School, University of York.