Rishi Sunak has been accused of losing control of the immigration system as net migration hit a record high.
Labour said the Prime Minister had “no grip on immigration” as figures showed 606,000 more people came to the UK than left last year, despite Tory pledges to slash numbers.
Net migration - the difference between the number of people moving to the UK and those leaving - has rocketed from 488,000 in 2021 and up from 504,000 in the 12 months to last June.
The estimates include people who have come to the UK from Ukraine and Hong Kong under resettlement schemes, as well as overseas students, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS) which compiled the figures.
A total of 1.2 million people arrived last year compared with 557,000 quitting the country.Most people arriving were non-EU nationals - some 925,000 - followed by EU citizens at 151,000.
Some 114,000 people arrived from war-torn Ukraine and 52,000 Hongkongers on British nationals overseas visas, following China’s brutal crackdown.
The rest - 88,000 - were British people coming back.
What is the level of net migration?
According to the Office for National Statistics, 1.163 million people are estimated to have arrived in the UK last year - immigrated - while 557,000 are believed to have left - emigrated.
That means a net migration figure - the difference between the two - of 606,000.
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It covers all of 2022 and refers to all legal migration - people who came on various visas, including to study, fill labour shortages in some industries, to escape war or persecution or resettling for family reasons.
Overall, the numbers continued to show shift from EU citizens dominating the net migration statistics of a few years ago, towards nationals from non-EU countries coming to the UK.
Is that a record?
Yes. The number has rocketed from 488,000 in 2021 and is up from 504,000 in the 12 months to last June.
However, it was lower than some recent predictions. An analysis by the Conservative-linked Centre for Policy Studies think tank suggested net migration could have hit between 700,000 and 997,000 in 2022.
Hasn’t the Government promised to cut net migration?
Repeatedly.
The Tories used their 2010, 2015 and 2017 election manifestos to pledge to cut net migration to below 100,000.
While the party abandoned the promise for the 2019 ballot, it committed to making sure "overall numbers come down". At the time, net migration stood at 226,000.
Why is it so high then?
The Government has made a trade off between boosting the economy or cutting net migration. Technically, it could stop all legal migration tomorrow by just refusing to issue any more visas.
However, that would stifle economic recovery and leave gaping holes in some sectors, triggering a shortage of agricultural workers and carers - many of whom come from abroad.
As Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s spokesman put it today: “Governments are required to make choices”, adding: “We need to strike the right balance between supporting our economy with getting those numbers down.”
What about Ukrainians and people from Hong Kong?
Tens of thousands of both arrived under humanitarian schemes last year - Ukrainians because of the war raging in their homeland and Hong Kongers who hold British nationals overseas visas because of the Chinese crackdown.
The PM’s spokesman said: “There has been a series of unprecedented world events throughout 2022 and some of the main drivers of the increases were (for) humanitarian purposes.
We think that is the right choice - we are confident the British public thinks it is the right choice to welcome more than 100,000 Ukrainians, for example.”
I thought Brexit would bring down net migration?
Many people voted to leave the EU in 2016 because they wanted to cut the number of migrants coming to Britain.
While a member of the bloc, any citizen from any of its 27 countries could come to the UK under freedom of movement rules and there was nothing the Government could do to stop them.
Outside the EU, ministers can decide how many people they want to come in from any country in the world.
But instead of “taking back control” to cut numbers, they have used their news power to allow a huge surge in net migration - most from outside the EU.
What about Channel migrants crossing the Dover Strait in small boats?
Today's figures were about legal migration - those who the Government has decided to allow in.
The PM has made “stopping the boats” and curbing illegal migration one of his five key pledges.
While some people will welcome the crackdown, the numbers arriving on small inflatables are a fraction of those permitted in through legal routes.
Will the figures keep rising?
Who knows?
Oxford University’s Migration Observatory director Madeleine Sumption pointed out that a few years ago no forecasts suggested migration would rise above 500,000 - "not least because they did not anticipate the war in Ukraine".
She added: "With that caveat, there is no reason to assume that net migration would remain this high indefinitely."
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