Net migration hit record 906,000 last year

Net migration into the UK hit a record 906,000 in the year to June 2023, much higher than previously estimated, official figures show.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) originally estimated it was 740,000 but has now revised this figure upwards by 166,000.

The ONS said it had significantly underestimated the number of people staying in the UK for longer than 12 months and had now improved the way it collects data.

Annual net migration - the difference between those entering and leaving the country - is now 728,000.

The ONS said net migration has been running at historically high levels because of the war in Ukraine and post-Brexit visa rules brought in by Boris Johnson's government.

The numbers have gone down in the past year because of tighter visa rules brought in by the Conservatives under Rishi Sunak, the official statistics show.

Labour said the latest migration figures showed the government had started the "hard graft" of tackling the issue, and was "cleaning up the Conservatives' mess".

A spokesperson said: "In their own words, the Tories broke the immigration system. On their watch, net migration quadrupled in four years to a record high of nearly one million, despite saying they'd lower it to 100,000".

Conservative Shadow home secretary Chris Philp said migration "remains far too high" and the UK needed stricter border controls.

High numbers put pressure on housing and public services that causes "a real impact felt by communities across the UK", Philp said.

In a speech on Wednesday before the figures came out, Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said her party got it "wrong" on immigration, leading to a strain on public services and making integration harder.

The ONS now says 82,000 more people came to live in the UK than they previously thought and 84,000 fewer people left the country.

Other reasons given by the office include more information on Ukraine visas, and improvements to the process for estimating migration of non-EU+ nationals.

The ONS said that the numbers were still "official statistics in development", meaning that they may be revised in the future as more data becomes available.

Separately, Home Office spending on the asylum system rose by £1.43 bn in 2023/24 to stand at £5.38 billion - a 36% rise year-on-year.

The total covers all Home Office asylum costs, including direct cash support and accommodation, plus wider staffing and other related migration and border activity, the PA news agency said.

It does not include the cost of operations responding to Channel crossings, intercepting migrants as they make the journey to the UK.

These separate figures from the Home Office show more than 130,000 people were awaiting an initial decision for their asylum case as of September. The number of those claiming asylum has more than doubled since September 2021.

Labour say they have “hired more caseworkers” to tackle the asylum backlog.