The British government welcomed the news Thursday that net migration in the UK, the difference between those moving to the country long-term and those leaving, fell by more than two-thirds in the year to June, but insisted that the figure must fall further in order to ease tensions within communities.
The Office for National Statistics said net migration fell 69 per cent to a four-year low of 204,000 in the year to June 2025 from 649,000 the year before, largely because fewer people from outside the European Union arrived in the UK for work or to study, along with an increase in people moving out of the country. The British government will hope that the sharp decline will help lower the temperature around an issue that has risen on the political agenda this year. However, voter concerns have largely centred on illegal migration, specifically on the difficulties successive governments have had in getting a grip on asylum-seekers making dangerous small boat crossings across the English Channel. That number, though running at almost 40,000 this year, represents a fraction of the total immigration figure.
In the year to June, the statistics agency said long-term immigration stood at 898,000, against nearly 1.3 million over the corresponding period the year before.
Net migration in the UK peaked at a record 944,000 in the year to March 2023 in the wake of the lifting of restrictions following the coronavirus pandemic, a new immigration system introduced following the UK’s departure from the European Union and the arrival of those fleeing war in Ukraine and China’s clampdown in Hong Kong.
Be the first to comment