Sir Keir Starmer has accused the former Tory government of running a “one-nation experiment in open borders”, while Kemi Badenoch admitted her party “did not deliver” on immigration.
A total of 1.2 million people arrived in the UK in the year up to June 2024, according to the latest ONS figures released today.
Net migration – the above figure, minus those who left the UK – stands at 728,000 for the year up to June 2024.
This would have been in line with existing estimates of the previous year, ending June 2023, but the ONS issued a revision, substantially increasing last year’s figures from 740,000 to 906,000.
The revised figures, which mark a new record-high in net migration, were partially attributed to missing numbers of Ukraine visas, and adjustments to predicting long-term migrants.
In light of these changes, net migration in the year to June 2024 is down 20 per cent from the previous year.
An increasingly high proportion of those arriving are non-EU nationals, who outnumber EU immigrants around seven times over.
What the numbers say on migration
It is clear that net migration is still soaring.
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has taken a swipe at the previous government, saying he has “had enough of the lies, of the deceptions, we’ve had years and years of it”.
Since Britain left the EU, immigration to the UK has gone up, and has not come close to pre-Brexit levels.
Free movement ended in January 2021 and Brexit immigration rules came into force. Since June 2021, at least 3.6 million immigrants have entered the UK.
Net migration is at 2.3 million over that period.
Latest data up in the year up to June 2024 shows that non-EU nationals make up 86 percent of total immigration into the UK.
The country with the highest number of people entering the UK is India, followed by Nigeria.
The Independent’s social affairs correspondent Holly Bancroft reported that the number of Vietnamese nationals entering the UK by small boat has risen by 177 percent.
This is linked to a new agreement between Vietnam and Hungary, which is enabling easier access to other European countries.
Most immigration is for work or study
In a time when the NHS and social care sectors are facing major staffing shortages, visas for health and care workers from abroad have dropped by 62 per cent.
The NHS has more than 31,000 reported vacancies, while 131,000 posts are vacant in social care, with a total shortage of 162,000 across the two fields.
Just 50,591 health and care worker visas were granted up to June 2024, which the government attributed to a drop in applicants.
New tighter regulation introduced in December 2023 stopped allowing overseas care workers to bring their dependants, which is a likely factor.
However, work and study both remain the highest reasons for immigration in the UK, with asylum and humanitarian reasons making up around 15 per cent of immigration in total.
Up to June this year, there was a fall in the number of study dependants entering the UK. The same rule changes above mean that most international students can no longer bring family members with them.
Sanctuary drops for Ukraine and Hong Kong
Since 2021 and 2022 respectively, the UK has been granting sanctuary to citizens of Hong Kong and Ukraine.
Yet numbers of sanctuary granted for both groups have dropped significantly in the year up to June 2024.
Just half the number of sanctuary visas have been granted to Ukranians compared to last year, dropping by 53 per cent to 29,506 grants.
Meanwhile, sanctuary grants to those from Hong Kong has dropped by nearly a quarter (to 30,000).
The Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (ACRS), which was opened in 2022, has seen a sharp uptick this year but is still below 10,000 grants annually.