According to official data released on Thursday, net migration to the UK reached a record high of 745,000 in 2022, increasing pressure on Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who has pledged to cut back on immigration.
One of the primary focal points of the general election that is anticipated to take place next year will be immigration, a long-standing political problem in Britain.
According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), last year’s net migration the difference between the number of individuals entering and departing Britain was greater than anticipated.
It revised upwards by 139,000 from the previous record figure of 606,000 for 2022, released in May, citing “unexpected patterns” in the behaviour of migrants.
The ONS added though that its estimate for the year to June 2023 was lower at 672,000.
“While it is too early to say if this is the start of a new downward trend, these more recent estimates indicate a slowing of immigration coupled with increasing emigration,” it said.
The amount up until June, according to Home Secretary James Cleverly, “is not showing a significant increase from last year’s figures and is largely in line with our own immigration statistics.”
Net migration was 488,000 in 2021. For a long time, regular immigration levels have been deemed “too high” by Prime Minister Sunak.
His Conservative government has made it clear time and time again that the UK may “take back control” of its borders if it leaves the EU and terminates free movement of people between its member states.
Sunak is having difficulty reducing the quantity of unauthorized arrivals that come across the Channel in tiny boats from northern France, on top of the record number.
More than 28,000 have undertaken the dangerous crossing this year.
The government has declared these crossings unlawful, but the courts have halted its widely-trumped plans to return asylum seekers to Rwanda.
The ONS estimates that in the year ending in June 2023, 1.2 million migrants arrived in Britain and 508,000 left.
An increasing number of recent arrivals were from non-EU nations, as has been the case since the Brexit referendum in 2016.
Opinion surveys show that the main opposition Labour party is significantly ahead of the Tories, who have been in power since 2010, in the run-up to the January 2025 election.
