A damning new report has warned that the British public and politicians are being kept in the dark about the true impact of immigration due to a data system "full of holes". Published on Friday 5 December 2025, the research from the University of Oxford's Migration Observatory highlights severe information gaps that undermine informed debate and policy decisions.
Critical Information Gaps Exposed
The influential think tank's report identifies multiple areas where data is missing or inadequate. It states that the government does not know how many people are in the country without authorisation and lacks proper information about what happens to asylum seekers before or after their initial claim.
Academics also warned there is little data on how many immigration cases are affected by the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). This comes as Labour has pledged to alter how UK judges interpret the ECHR to prevent asylum seekers using 'right to family life' claims to avoid deportation. Home Office officials have previously claimed the convention allows "large numbers of people to stay in the UK, against the public’s wishes".
Dr Madeleine Sumption, director of the Migration Observatory, said: "This makes it harder for the public or policymakers to make an informed choice about an important decision with long-term repercussions for the UK."
Political Accusations and a 'Dangerous' Vacuum
Shadow home secretary Chris Philp accused the government of "hiding the very data the public need to understand what is happening to our borders". He claimed ministers were "refusing to publish key enforcement data" and "keeping the country in the dark because the truth would expose how weak and incompetent their approach really is".
Steve Smith, CEO of the refugee charity Care4Calais, warned that the vacuum of reliable information is dangerous. "The public debate on migration is full of politically motivated rhetoric, and almost entirely devoid of facts," he said. "It’s a dangerous situation that is undoubtedly inflaming hate and bolstering far-right actors." He added that under Labour, transparency felt even worse than under the Conservatives.
Specific Data Shortfalls and Systemic Failures
The report details specific areas of concern:
- No official data on the nationalities or immigration statuses of people arrested, prosecuted, or convicted of crimes.
- Little information on migrants as victims of crime.
- Missing statistics on migrants' long-term economic outcomes and their impact on public services.
- Inadequate data on immigration enforcement and the number of people successfully returned.
These gaps make it impossible to track asylum seekers through the system effectively. Dr Peter Walsh, senior researcher at the Observatory, explained official data cannot show what happens to those refused asylum but not returned, or the sequence of appeals they make.
The findings echo past scandals. Last year, then-Conservative home secretary James Cleverly was accused of losing track of thousands after officials admitted 4,000 asylum seekers had lost contact with the Home Office. Reports also suggested around 85% of the 5,000 people identified for removal to Rwanda were 'lost', and almost 6,000 asylum seekers whose claims were withdrawn had gone missing.
A Home Office spokesperson responded: "These findings are not acceptable, but they are a product of this government’s inheritance of a migration system that was out of control." They pointed to ongoing reforms, claiming net migration was down by two-thirds and removals of illegal migrants were up 23% to nearly 50,000.
As Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood unveils plans to overhaul the asylum system, experts argue that without fixing these fundamental data failures, any policy changes will be built on unstable ground, leaving public debate vulnerable to manipulation.
