Net migration reached a new record high of 606,000 last year.
Figures released by the Office for National Statistic (ONS) today showed that 1.2 million people moved to the UK in 2022 while 557,000 emigrated.
According to The Times:
It means immigration added a city roughly the size of Glasgow to the UK’s population last year.
The figures are a fifth higher than the 504,000 recorded in year to June 2022. They are more than double the level recorded in 2019, when the Conservative Party pledged to reduce overall immigration in its election manifesto.
Today’s figures are likely to pile further pressure on Rishi Sunak to implement further measures to clamp down on numbers in order to meet his party’s manifesto pledge to reduce overall immigration.
The prime minister has repeatedly promised to reduce overall immigration but has refused to set a target.
The figures are lower than experts had forecast. The Centre for Policy Studies had forecast net migration to have reached between 700,000 and one million in 2022, while modelling carried out by the Home Office estimated it to be 728,000.
When asked if migration was out of control, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak told ITV’s This Morning programme:
“Well, no, I think the numbers are just too high. There has been various factors, you will read the report, whether it was welcoming people here from Hong Kong or Ukraine.
“That has had an impact. As we saw after the pandemic more people came back to study here who hadn’t been here during the pandemic years. But fundamentally the numbers are high, I want to bring them down.”
He added: “The numbers that I have inherited are closer to 500,000 plus and you have seen the numbers today as you have said.
“But look, my commitment is to bring numbers down and the measures that we have put in place this week are significant, they will bring the numbers down over time, that is what I want to do.
“We are looking at other things as well and we will keep looking at it and it goes alongside our other plan to stop the boats because that is really important.”
