SIR - Philip Davies accuses me of trying to close down debate on the issue of asylum (T&A, December 6). This couldn't be further from the truth.

We do need a debate about why people seek asylum and why the world is such a dangerous place for many people.

I don't know if he has met and talked with many asylum seekers but perhaps he hasn't met the woman who showed me photographs of her dead brother, butchered because he had a political disagreement with the people who rule his country.

Perhaps he is also not aware of figures that demonstrate up to 50 per cent of women who seek asylum in this country have been the victims of rape and sexual assault in their country of origin as a means of political oppression.

Far from closing down debate I welcome debate on these issues. But what I cannot let Philip Davies get away with is the way he peddles myth and media scare stories. These false stories are what closes debate and prevents real discussion about the way we should be treating asylum seekers.

Coun David Ford (Green, Heaton) City Hall, Bradford