PoliticsImmigrationuk newsPolitics

Immigration Hits 330,000, The Highest Figure On Record

Immigration Hits 330,000, The Highest Figure On Record
Ned Simons
|
Open Image Modal
EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND - SEPTEMBER 10: Prime Minister David Cameron speaks during a visit to Scottish Widows offices in Edinburgh, where he made an impassioned plea to keep Scotland part of the union, saying he would be 'heartbroken' if the UK was torn apart on September 10, 2014 in Edinburgh, Scotland. The three UK party leaders are all campaigning in Scotland today showing their support for a 'No' vote in the independence referendum. (Photo by James Glossop - WPA Pool /Getty Images)
WPA Pool via Getty Images

Net migration to Britain was an estimated 330,000 in the year to March - the highest figure on record, official figures have confirmed.

This is 10,000 above the highest figure on record, which was 320,000 for the year ending June 2005, and an increase of more than a third compared to the same period last year.

The number is 230,000 above David Cameron's aim to reduce immigration to the tends of thousands. Conservative Home Office minister James Brokenshire said figures are "deeply disappointing".

According to the Office for National Statistics, 636,000 moved to the UK over the period while 307,000 left. The increase was driven by a record 269,000 EU citizens arriving in Britain.

Statistics also showed, as expected, that Britain's foreign-born population has surpassed eight million for the first time.

Ukip leader Nigel Farage said: "These figures reflect Borderless Britain and total impotence of the British government.

"If open borders are not part of the Cameron renegotiation then what's the point of it? Given 192,000 from Romania and Bulgaria registered for National Insurance in the year period, how can we believe the ONS figure of 53,000 from the same two countries in the same year?"

However the Institute of Directors (IoD) accused the prime minister of "punishing business" by trying to meet his self-imposed net migration target.

"Scrabbling around to find measures to hit a bizarre and unachievable migration target is no way to give British businesses the stable environment they need," Simon Walker, director general of the IoD, said.

"Combined with ministers' increasingly strong rhetoric on immigration, the UK's reputation as an open, competitive economy is under threat," he added.

Keith Vaz, the Labour MP and chairman of the Commons home affairs committee said the record breaking figures were "shocking".

"Only one month ago Theresa May told the home affairs committee that net migration of under 100,000 was her target," he said.

"This is clearly not going to happen. Broken promises on migration do not build confidence with the public. We need a radically different approach."

Sunder Katwala, the director of the British Future think tank said Cameron's "broken promises" on immigration would "destroy public trust".

"Voters realise that controlling immigration isn’t easy – but they do at least expect the prime minister to have a plan to meet the target he’s set," he said.

"Unlike the long-term plan for economic recovery on which he was re-elected, his big problem on immigration is that the prime minister has never had a credible plan to meet this target.

"These figures have got to be a wake-up call that a new approach is needed. With the Lib Dems out of government, the PM has run out of excuses. Either he sets out a long-term plan to meet the net migration target - or he should set a different target that the government can actually meet."

9 Surprising Facts About Immigration
(01 of09)
Open Image Modal
Foreign-born residents make up almost 16 percent of the 31 million-strong labour force.Of the total number of overseas workers, 60% were born outside the EU. 16% are from western Europe, while 15% are from eastern Europe. The two poorest EU countries, Romania and Bulgaria, accounted for 3.8% of workers.
(02 of09)
Open Image Modal
In fact, the British public overestimates the share of immigrants in the total population: Respondents to a poll by Ipsos MORI earlier this year guessed it was 21%. The actual figure is 13%, according to the UK's Office of National Statistics.
(03 of09)
Open Image Modal
Immigration has risen significantly in the last 20 years, spiking most recently after a decade of stability.
(04 of09)
Open Image Modal
The UK isn’t the largest EU port of call for migrants.
(05 of09)
Open Image Modal
And despite all the talk about “Polish plumbers” and Ukip leader Nigel Farage’s call to leave the EU to “regain control” over the country’s borders, most people vying to settle in Britain come from outside the trading bloc. The top two arriving nationalities are in fact Chinese and Indian.
(06 of09)
Open Image Modal
Foreign arrivals come mostly to work or study and about two-thirds of those moving for employment already have job offers when they arrive, even as politicians decry “benefit tourism.” In researcher NatCen’s British Social Attitudes Survey, taken in 2013 and published in June 2014, 24 percent of respondents said they believed welfare was the most common motive for migration when that was listed as one of the choices.
(07 of09)
Open Image Modal
While legal foreign residents are eligible for social welfare, 93% of the 5.3 million people claiming aid, such as jobseekers’ allowance and disability benefits, have British nationality.
(08 of09)
Open Image Modal
Three EU nationalities are among the top 10 benefit claimants of foreign birth.
(09 of09)
Open Image Modal
Seventy-six percent of Romanians and Bulgarians who arrived in the U.K. last year came for work. That compares with 61% of people from the original 15 EU members and 67% of people from the eight eastern European countries that joined the bloc in 2004. Popular perceptions are different: In a report analyzing language used by 19 British national newspapers in the two years preceding the lifting of a seven-year ban on employment, Oxford University’s Migration Observatory said that words used to describe Romanians frequently evoked crime and anti-social behavior, especially in the tabloid press.
Suggest a correction
|
Submit a tip