UK net migration fell to an estimated 171,000 last year, the lowest figure since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, according to official data. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said the 12-month estimate, which measures the difference between arrivals and departures, was down 48% from 331,000 the previous year.
The decline was driven largely by fewer people from outside the EU arriving for work. An estimated 813,000 people arrived in the UK during the period, while 642,000 left. Excluding pandemic-impacted years, the figure was the lowest since the year to September 2012, when net migration stood at 157,000.
The figures are likely to intensify debate over Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood’s immigration policies, including proposals to extend the qualifying period for indefinite leave to remain from five to ten years. Former deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner has voiced concerns, while Marley Morris of the Institute for Public Policy Research said the government’s progress “should prompt a more measured debate”. He warned that an “excessively tough approach” risked designing policy for “pressures of three years ago”.
Shadow home secretary Chris Philp urged Labour to reform indefinite leave to remain “before their hard-left flank forces them to abandon it altogether”. Meanwhile, polling by Number Cruncher Politics and British Future of 3,003 adults found that 49% of the public believed net migration had increased over the past year, while just 16% correctly identified that it had fallen. More than half expected it to rise again next year.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said the figures showed his government was “delivering” on its promise to “restore control to our borders”. The Home Secretary acknowledged that “real progress has been made” but said “there is still work to do”, citing plans for a skills-based migration system. Jon Featonby of the Refugee Council welcomed progress on ending asylum hotels but said families fleeing war and persecution had “almost no safe and legal way to reach the UK”.
