BNP North Durham parliamentary candidate Pete Molloy states that parts of the country are being “ethnically cleansed of the indigenous population” (HAS, Jan 25). This is nonsense.

While people of many different ethnic origins are well integrated in every walk of life in Britain, there are problems with “ghettoisation” in some areas.

The reasons for this are complex. High rates of poverty and unemployment among some ethnic minorities mean that they can only afford to buy or rent properties in rundown inner city areas.

White residents may move away if they can afford to, a phenomenon misleadingly referred to as “white flight”.

Some may feel unwelcome, or not wish to live next to black people, but the primary reasons are economic. Hence, we have virtually all-white “ghettos” – eg, Shettlestown, Glasgow.

In Birmingham, “white flight”

has become “middle class flight”

as more affluent blacks and Asians join their white compatriots in the suburbs, while new immigrants move into the city centre.

Tackling poverty and inequality is the single most important strategy to deal with these problems. The last thing we need is the BNP, which is “wholly opposed to any form of integration” between white and black.

We need more integration, not less.

Pete Winstanley, Durham