NoFigures released today by the British Office for National Statistics show that after deducting long-term immigration and emigration data, the net migration rate was 504,000 new residents.
The updated value up to June represents a sharp increase compared to the 173 thousand immigrants registered last year.
According to British officials, the achievement is due to “a unique period” due to the resumption of international movement after the progress of the Covid-19 pandemic, support for Ukrainian citizens and the establishment of a new migration system after the exit. from the European Union (‘Brexit’).
According to the Statistics Office, the growth in the number of migrants was also responsible for the increase in the number of international students studying at a distance during the pandemic.
“All of these events contributed to high levels of aggregate immigration over the long term,” the agency explained.
The net migration rate corresponds mainly to non-EU citizens, as the number of EU citizens living in the United Kingdom decreased (by 51 thousand fewer people) from June 2021 to June this year, and 45 thousand British people also decided to immigrate.
The previous record for net migration was recorded in 2015, the year of the Great Migration Crisis in Europe, which reached 330 thousand people in the United Kingdom.
Concerns about the impact of immigration on the country were one of the main drivers of the United Kingdom’s vote to leave the European Union in 2016.
At the time, then-Prime Minister David Cameron wanted to keep the rate of net migration below 100,000 people a year.
A surge in immigration has again made headlines in the UK in recent weeks as some business leaders urged the government to ease the entry of foreign workers to boost economic growth.
The appeal was rejected by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who on Monday defended the need to fight illegal immigration in the country.
The government, namely the Prime Minister and Home Secretary, Suella Braverman, has been under pressure to prevent illegal immigrants from making the perilous journeys across the English Channel (which separates France from the UK) and to reduce overcrowded reception centres.
Earlier this month, London signed a deal with France to step up efforts to stop migrants crossing the English Channel.
According to the British government, between January and September this year, 33,029 people were detected crossing the canal in small boats.
Also read: The NGO condemns the detention of illegal immigrants in “inhumane conditions”.
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