HERE’S to the passing of Christmas 2013, and what I hope has been a happy and peaceful one for the good people of Malvern and the county, but I’m afraid I do not anticipate a fruitful or happy new year for those of us who are not MPs or bankers.

2014 begins with the opening of the UK’s borders to all the Romanians and Bulgarians wishing to come here, whether for work (and benefits) or crime (and benefits), and according to the latest news, despite doubling their usual capacity, all airlines are reporting fully booked flights from those countries to the UK.

In our capital and elsewhere, coffee shops and hotels, factories and building sites are already filling up with eastern European workers, only too happy to compete enthusiastically with the 2.5 million unemployed Brits for a minimum wage which represents three or four times that which they could hope to earn in their countries.

How can this possibly be good for ordinary British people? There are more than a million young people unemployed in the UK, yet our three main political parties choose to answer that by acquiescing to Brussels and opening our borders so our young have to face even greater competition in a tough jobs market.

David Cameron makes a show of attempting to limit the rights of new migrants to benefits, because it’s easier than having to act in Britain’s best interests by limiting immigration, but he knows the European Court of Human Rights will overturn that inadequate gesture.

WILL RICHARDS Malvern