Tawdry claim

The comments of Scottish Secretary Jim Murphy (your report, 16 February) reveal a tawdry attempt to shoehorn race into the election campaign in Scotland and utterly misrepresent the SNP's position on asylum and immigration.

The SNP does not and has never supported illegal immigration. As an SNP MSP, I actively lobbied the Home Office for the removal of a convicted rapist and child trafficker who, rather than being immediately deported when he had served his sentence, was instead placed in the Dungavel immigration detention centre in my constituency, alongside families and children who had committed no crime. It is this kind of failure of action by Labour's Home Office that undermines public confidence.

Mr Murphy deliberately conflates and confuses asylum and immigration, as Labour has done throughout their time in office. They are entirely separate systems and should be discussed as such. Describing asylum seekers as "illegal immigrants" is not only factually plain wrong, it also foments discontent and tarnishes the noble tradition of providing sanctuary to refugees forced to flee their own countries in fear of their lives.

The public outpouring of support for Florence and Precious Mhango, to give just one example, shows that the majority of Scots agree that long-established asylum seekers should be able to stay here.

CHRISTINA McKELVIE

SNP MSP, Central Scotland