Net migration to the UK hit record 900,000 in 2023

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Net migration to the UK exceeded 900,000 for the year to June 2023, the highest annual total on record and much more than previously thought, according to official figures issued on Thursday.

The revised Office for National Statistics figure of 906,000 for the period far outstripped the previous estimate of 740,000.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said the numbers, which cover the period before Labour took office in July, were “shocking” and showed a “complete loss of control” by the previous Conservative government.

“This happened by design, not accident,” Starmer said at a press conference, where he added that a white paper with measures to reduce immigration would be published “imminently”.

“Policies were reformed to liberalise immigration . . . Brexit was used to turn Britain into a one nation experiment in open borders.”

The ONS attributed the jump to more information on people arriving from Ukraine and on people already in the UK gaining new long-term visas.

However, it added that net migration has since fallen 20 per cent to 728,000 for the 12 months to June this year, after the previous Tory government tightened controls on international students and care workers and raised salary thresholds for sponsoring skilled workers.

Nigel Farage, leader of the right-wing Reform UK party, said the figures were “horrendous”, adding that voters would not forgive the Conservatives “at any point in the next few years for what they have done”.

However, the revisions will also ramp up the pressure on home secretary Yvette Cooper, who has pledged to cut immigration further as well as keeping the Conservatives’ changes in place.

The ONS figures showed that about 1mn of the 1.2mn people who came to live in the UK in the year to June were non-EU nationals. Of these, 845,000 were of working age and 179,000 were children. The top countries of origin were India, Nigeria, Pakistan, China and Zimbabwe.

Cooper said the figures showed “the lack of proper controls in place and the over reliance on a big increase in overseas recruitment”. She said the government would continue with visa controls while “setting out new plans to link them to the system for training and skills here in the UK” and taking action to fix the asylum system.

On Thursday, the Home Office announced new measures that will bar employers from hiring migrants if they repeatedly flout visa rules — including if they treat migrant staff unfairly.

The government also announced a new security pact with Iraq to strengthen border security and target smuggler and trafficking gangs. However, the bulk of migration into the UK is via legal routes.

In comments on Wednesday that anticipated the data release, Tory leader Kemi Badenoch acknowledged how far net migration had risen during her party’s 14 years in office, saying the Conservatives had got it “wrong”.

Separate data for visa applications on Thursday suggested, however, that the recent decline in net migration to the UK is gathering pace.

Home Office figures for the year to September showed a 65 per cent fall in applications for health and care workers, a drop of 19 per cent in students and of 84 per cent in dependants of students.

The ONS said the decline in net migration in the year to June was mostly due to fewer family members accompanying students, and students who had arrived in earlier years returning home.

About 295,000 non-EU nationals came to study, similar to the previous year’s intake of students, but they brought fewer family members with them, reflecting new immigration rules that banned students on one-year masters courses from bringing dependants.

About 184,000 non-EU nationals came on work visas, down from 219,000 in the year to December 2023. The number of family members joining them increased to 233,000, from 166,000 in the year to June 2023.

However, this is likely to reflect a rush to secure visas before a ban on care workers bringing family to the UK took effect. The ONS said the most recent figures showed signs of a fall.

Asylum seekers accounted for 84,000 or 8 per cent of arrivals in the UK from outside the EU, including those coming through regular and irregular routes, such as small boats.

Separately, Home Office quarterly statistics released on Thursday showed an 18 per cent decline in the number of migrants arriving through irregular channels in the year ending September. Of these nearly 30,000 or 81 per cent crossed the Channel in small boats, slightly lower than a year earlier.

This story has been amended to clarify that the previous estimate for net migration for the 12 months to June 2023 was 740,000