UK migration hits record high despite bid to ‘take back control’ of its borders
- The main drivers were people coming to the UK from non-EU countries for ‘work, study and for humanitarian purposes’, ONS chief said
- Immigration has long been a key political issue in the UK, and was one the main battlegrounds of the Brexit referendum in 2016 that saw the country leave the bloc
Net migration to the UK hit a record 606,000 in 2022, official figures showed on Thursday, heaping pressure on the government which has pledged to cut dependency on foreign labour.
Immigration has long been a key political issue in the UK, and was one the main battlegrounds of the Brexit referendum in 2016 that saw the country leave the bloc.
“A series of unprecedented world events throughout 2022 and the lifting of restrictions following the coronavirus pandemic led to record levels of international immigration to the UK,” said Jay Lindop, director of the centre for international migration at the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
The main drivers were people coming to the UK from non-EU countries for “work, study and for humanitarian purposes”, he said.
The figures included those arriving from Ukraine after Russia’s invasion and Hong Kong, where the UK relaxed entry rules for holders of British overseas passports after China’s squeeze on civil rights.