Net migration hit a record high of nearly one million in 2023, 170,000 more than previously thought, in an extraordinary indictment of the Tories’ post-Brexit record on ‘cutting immigration’. The Telegraph has more.
The number of people entering the U.K. minus those leaving reached 906,000 in the year ending June 2023, according to updated estimates from the Office for National Statistics (ONS). This has been revised upwards from a previous estimate of 740,000.
The net migration record was formerly thought to be 764,000 for the year ending December 2022. This estimate has also been revised and now stands at 872,000.
However, the most recent figures show that net migration is falling and is down by 20% to 728,000 for the year ending June 2024. This is the fourth highest net migration total on record.
The revised estimates come as separate Home Office figures showed government spending on asylum in the UK stood at a record £5.38 billion in 2023-24, up 36% from £3.95 billion in 2022-23.
The recent decline covers the year before the election when the Tories cracked down on migration, with measures including bans on foreign workers and students bringing dependants, increases in the skilled worker salary threshold from £26,200 to £38,700 and curbing shortage occupation visa schemes.
The ONS said the total for the year to June 2023 had been revised upwards by 166,000 from the initial estimate of 740,000 because of more data becoming available.
It reported that better analysis of the number of refugees from Ukraine and improved information on the migration behaviour of people arriving from outside the EU had also impacted estimates. …
The ONS said that while remaining high by “historic standards”, net migration is now “beginning to fall” in the wake of the measures introduced at the beginning of this year.
Non-EU nationals accounted for 86% – just over one million – of the 1.2 million people who entered the country in the year to June 2024. EU nationals made up 10% or 116,000, and returning Britons accounted for 5%.
Of the 479,000 people who left the U.K. in the year ending June 2024, around 44% – 211,000 – were EU nationals and 39% or 189,000 were from non-EU countries. Some 16%, or 79,000 were Britons.
More than a million people entering the country each year – no wonder there are queues for everything and the NHS is overrun.
Worth reading in full.
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