The number of non-British EU citizens working in Britain has reached a record high since last year’s Brexit referendum, according to a government report released yesterday.
This is reportedly an increase of 112,000 for the same time period last year. It’s the highest number recorded since records began in 1997.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
The report also reveals that the employment rate in the UK – the proportion of people aged 16 to 64 years who are in work – was 81.6 percent for EU nationals. The figure for UK nationals was lower, at 75.3%.
The number of workers from the 14 “western EU countries”, including Italy, France and Germany, rose by 45,000 to 987,000 in the year after the referendum, writes The Times, while the number of Bulgarians and Romanians increased by 90,000 to 347,000.
Alp Mehmet, vice-chairman of Migration Watch UK, which campaigns for lower immigration, wrote on Facebook that the figures show that “predictions of a Brexodus — an outflow of EU workers — are nonsense.
“In fact there has been an increase in the last year. Part of this is a net inflow of Romanians and Bulgarians who mainly go into low-paid work.”
Earlier this week, Brexit Secretary David Davis was told that the European Parliament would block any Brexit deal that resulted in EU citizens living in the UK being deported when Britain leaves the EU, The Independent reports.
-
The ‘menopause gold rush’Under the Radar Women vulnerable to misinformation and marketing of ‘unregulated’ products
-
Voting Rights Act: SCOTUS’s pivotal decisionFeature A Supreme Court ruling against the Voting Rights Act could allow Republicans to redraw districts and solidify control of the House
-
No Kings rally: What did it achieve?Feature The latest ‘No Kings’ march has become the largest protest in U.S. history
-
Chicago: Scenes from a city under siegeFeature Chicago is descending into chaos as masked federal agents target people in public spaces and threaten anyone who tries to document the arrests
-
How are ICE’s recruitment woes complicating Trump’s immigration agenda?TODAY’S BIG QUESTION Lowered training standards and ‘athletically allergic’ hopefuls are hindering the White House plan to turn the Department of Homeland Security into a federal police force
-
NY attorney general asks public for ICE raid footageSpeed Read Rep. Dan Goldman claims ICE wrongly detained four US citizens in the Canal Street raid and held them for a whole day without charges
-
Whistles emerge as Chicago’s tool to fight ICEIN THE SPOTLIGHT As federal agents continue raiding the city, communities have turned to noisemakers to create a warning system
-
Are inflatable costumes and naked bike rides helping or hurting ICE protests?Talking Points Trump administration efforts to portray Portland and Chicago as dystopian war zones have been met with dancing frogs, bare butts and a growing movement to mock MAGA doomsaying
-
Taking the low road: why the SNP is still standing strongTalking Point Party is on track for a fifth consecutive victory in May’s Holyrood election, despite controversies and plummeting support
-
Trump’s deportations are changing how we think about foodIN THE SPOTLIGHT The Department of Labor’s admission that immigration raids have affected America’s food supplies reopens a longstanding debate
-
The end of ‘golden ticket’ asylum rightsThe Explainer Refugees lose automatic right to bring family over and must ‘earn’ indefinite right to remain
