Signalling the continuation of a steep decline driven by tougher government controls, long-term net migration to Britain dropped to 204,000 in the year to June, roughly two-thirds lower than the previous year, according to official data released on Thursday.
Immigration — both legal and irregular — has dominated British politics for more than a decade, with successive administrations tightening visa rules, raising salary thresholds, and expanding enforcement in an effort to curb arrivals.
The Labour government has moved further in that direction as it tries to blunt the rise of Nigel Farage’s Reform UK, a populist party campaigning aggressively on an anti-migration platform and currently polling in double-digit territory.
Revised numbers published last week by the Office for National Statistics showed that net migration had peaked earlier and higher than previously estimated, hitting 944,000 in the 12 months to March 2023. Updated figures also confirmed that the total had dropped to 345,000 in 2024, marking the beginning of the downward trend now reinforced by the latest release.
Despite the decline, immigration remains the public’s top concern. The British Future think tank said anxiety was being fuelled largely by people arriving on small boats from France to seek asylum — a politically charged issue that continues to dominate headlines.
“Those who most want lower immigration are the least aware of the falling numbers and the most likely to mistakenly believe net migration had increased,” the group said.
Earlier this month, the government announced a fresh round of sweeping reforms. Measures include making refugee status temporary, accelerating deportations of those entering the UK illegally, and doubling to ten years the qualifying period for certain foreign workers to obtain settled status.
A major shift came in July with the scrapping of the care worker route, which had been the largest contributor to work-related migration in recent years. Officials expect the change to push numbers down further over the coming years.
(With Inputs from Reuters)
