RESTRICTING foreign imports in order to safeguard British jobs (Letters, August 4) may sound good in theory, but in practice will not work.

Our manufacturing base in these cheap imports areas has gone. It cannot be resurrected overnight.

If it could be recreated, would consumers pay double the current price, which would happen considering the unit production costs disparity between foreign sweatshops and our own sensible wage costs?

Fortunately we are not a communist regime, which would be the only answer to produce cheap goods. Capitalism may not be the perfect solution, but apart from winning many more Olympic Golds do we really want to be a country like China?

Geoff Robb, Hunters Close, Dunnington , York.