Rishi Sunak is facing calls from Tory MPs to “act now” to bring down net migration, as new figures showed that it hit a new record of 745,000.
Revised estimates from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) put net migration to the UK in the year to December 2022 higher than previously thought. However, the figure for the year to June 2023 is estimated to be lower, at 672,000.
In a strongly-worded statement, the right-wing New Conservative group of MPs demanded action from the Prime Minister and his Home Secretary James Cleverly.
The group, led by Miriam Cates, Danny Kruger and Sir John Hayes, warned: “The word ‘existential’ has been used a lot in recent days but this really is ‘do or die’ for our party.
“Each of us made a promise to the electorate. We don’t believe that such promises can be ignored.
The Government remains completely committed to reducing levels of legal migration while at the same time focusing relentlessly on our priority of stopping the boats
Home Secretary James Cleverly
“The Government must propose, today, a comprehensive package of measures to meet the manifesto promise by the time of the next election. We will assess any such package and report publicly on whether it will meet the promise made to the electorate.
“The Prime Minister, Chancellor, and new Home Secretary must show that they stand by the promises on which we were elected to Parliament. We must act now.”
The ONS said it is too early to tell if this is the start of a new downward trend but that the most recent estimates indicate a slowing of immigration coupled with increasing emigration.
Mr Cleverly said the latest figure “is largely in line with our own immigration statistics” and insisted the Government “remains completely committed to reducing levels of legal migration”.
The previous estimate for the year to December 2022 had been 606,000, but the ONS has since revised this upwards in light of “unexpected patterns” in the behaviour of migrants.
The latest figures show that a total of 1.18 million people are estimated to have arrived in the UK in the year to June 2023 while 508,000 are likely to have left, leaving the net migration figure at 672,000.
Mr Cleverly said: “This figure is not showing a significant increase from last year’s figures and is largely in line with our own immigration statistics.
“The Government remains completely committed to reducing levels of legal migration while at the same time focusing relentlessly on our priority of stopping the boats.”
He said the UK needs to “reduce our overall numbers by eliminating the abuse and exploitation of our visa system by both companies and individuals”.
Emma Rourke, ONS deputy national statistician, said: “Our most recent migration statistics are always provisional and supported by assumptions around whether we think people will stay 12 months or more.
“We are responding to changes in a highly volatile world and our revisions reflect the unexpected patterns arising from that unpredictability. This will continue to influence our measures of uncertainty.”
Most people arriving to the UK in the year ending June 2023 were non-EU nationals (968,000), followed by EU (129,000) and British (84,000), the ONS said.
Study remained the biggest contributor to non-EU immigration in that period, accounting for 39%, largely unchanged compared with the previous period.
The next biggest contributor to non-EU immigration was migrants coming for work – having risen to 33%, from 23% in the year ending June 2022, and largely attributed to people on health and care visas.
Arrivals of people via humanitarian routes have fallen from 19% to 9% over the same period, the ONS said, with most of these made up of Ukrainians and British Nationals (Overseas) arrivals from Hong Kong.
Labour said that the figures were a sign of the Government’s “failure” on immigration.
Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said: “These figures are driven by a 54% increase in work visas and a 156% increase in health and social care visas which prove the Conservatives’ abysmal record on skills, training and workforce planning, as they have run our economy into the ground.
“They are still failing to make changes Labour has called for to end the 20% wage discount in the immigration system and to link it to training requirements.
“The Tories have broken the asylum system with the number of asylum seekers in hotels now at a record high of 56,000 – over 10,000 more than when Rishi Sunak promised to end hotel use – and costing almost £3 billion a year. Once again, the British taxpayer is footing the bill for the Conservatives’ chaos.”