The UK’s migration ‘surge’ examined

1.1 million people migrated to the UK last year, according to the latest ONS data

UK border
Total net migration reached a record 504,000 in the year to June, according to ONS data
(Image credit: Jeff Gilbert / Alamy Stock Photo)

Migration to the UK has reached “the highest figure ever recorded”, said Allison Pearson in The Daily Telegraph. The Office for National Statistics estimates that, in the year to June, 1.1 million people legally migrated to the UK, while some 560,000 left, leaving total net migration at a record 504,000.

These figures are staggering; it is quite clear to “everyone but our complacent leaders” that immigration on this scale will impose vast and unsustainable pressure on Britain’s public services and housing; a grand total of 38,400 new houses were built in the UK last year. Half a million people, said the Daily Mail: that is equivalent to a city the size of Liverpool. Let us be clear: migrants make a huge contribution to British society. But “something has to give. No one voted for mass immigration on this scale.” In fact, the Conservatives promised clearly in their 2019 manifesto that “overall numbers will come down”.

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