| Topic: | Reply ~ The Reality | |
| Posted by: | Sue Hammond | |
| Date/Time: | 27/11/25 14:30:00 |
| Net migration falls due to rising emigration. Net migration has fallen to its lowest level in four years. Figures released this morning show that 204,000 more people arrived in the UK than left in the 12 months to June – a drop of more than two-thirds compared with the year before. The real story, though, is that inward migration remains close to record highs. Some 898,000 people arrived in the UK over the year, but the net figure dropped because an unusually large 693,000 people left, with the rate particularly high amongst young people. The Office for National Statistics described this as part of a ‘gradual increase in levels of emigration’. Fewer non-EU nationals came to the UK to work or study too. Additionally, there was bad news for the government in the latest asylum statistics, also released today. The Home Office reported that in the year to September a record 110,000 people claimed asylum, with more than 36,000 accommodated in hotels. That’s a tad higher than the 109,142 recorded in the year to June. According to the Home Office: ‘Half of asylum seekers arrived through illegal routes, such as small boats or clandestine method. Politically, the Conservatives are keen to claim credit for the sharp fall in net migration, arguing that the measures they introduced in their dying months – including tighter visa rules and restrictions on dependants – are now feeding through into the numbers. Labour, meanwhile, will welcome the headline drop but should tread carefully, since the reduction is largely the product of high levels of emigration. Today’s figures do allow ministers to point to a dramatic fall in net migration, but the underlying picture is far less clear-cut. It is the slow but steady growth in people leaving the UK that has pushed the net figure down. The government can claim progress, but it is not yet evidence of a sustained fall in migration. |