SIR - As a Minehead resident and nurse, I wholeheartedly welcome any genuine campaign to re-open our local hospital wards.

However, I have to question the motives of UKIP for theirs.

UKIP has repeatedly blamed immigrants for the shortages and pressure on the NHS.

However, this could hardly be argued as the case for the closure of beds in Minehead and Williton, where the beds were populated by our own elderly local residents.

UKIP has fought to take Britain out of the EU in an effort to control immigration and repatriate migrant workers.

Yet the NHS is totally dependent on staff from abroad and any attempt at repatriation would cause the NHS to collapse.

Minehead hospital itself employs several essential staff from the EU.

Paul Nuttall, the leader of UKIP, has made the intention of his party to privatise the NHS clear, calling the NHS a “monolithic hangover from days gone by”.

I, therefore, find their campaign utterly hypocritical and dishonest.

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