East European migration tumbles

NET migration to the UK has fallen to below a quarter of a million for the first time in nearly three years.

But it still remains well over double Theresa May’s target of less than 100,000 a year, figures showed yesterday.

Office for National Statistics data showed that 248,000 more people came to Britain than left last year.

The reduction was partly due to plummeting numbers of people coming from the EU’s central and eastern European states and more European citizens leaving.

The data also revealed that the number from the whole of Europe earning the right to permanent UK residence because they have lived here for at least five years hit a record high of 51,695 in the three months to the end of March. Yesterday campaigners gave welcome to the fall.

Alp Mehmet, of Migration Watch UK, said: “This reduction is welcome but it is still running at a quarter of a million a year, a level that would have once have been dismissed as incredible.

“A strong focus by the next government on reducing immigration will be essential if the growing strains on our public services and society are to be relieved.”

Dr Carlos Vargas-Silva, of the Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford, said: “It seems unlikely that we will see net migration in the tens of thousands in the near future without either an a cautious economic downturn or a new set of much more restrictive immigration policies.”

But Home Secretary Amber Rudd said: “We’re making good progress in getting towards the tens of thousands.”

Mrs May has retained the Tory’s previous election pledge to reduce annual net migration to fewer than 100,000, despite pressure to drop the never-met promise.

Yesterday’s 248,000 net migration estimate for 2016 was a “statistically significant” drop of 84,000 from the 332,000 recorded the previous year.

The last time overall net migration was under 250,000 was in the 12 months to March 2014.

A total of 588,000 people came to Britain in 2016 intending to stay at least a year – down 43,000 on 2015’s figure. Of those 264,000 were nonEU citizens, 250,000 were Europeans and 74,000 returning Britons.

A total of 339,000 people left the UK long term last year.

The ONS estimated that 175,000 more non-Europeans arrived to settle than left last year, down 14,000 from 2015.

Immigration from the “EU8” states of Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia fell 25,000 to 48,000 and the number of their citizens leaving was up 16,000 to 43,000.

The figures showed that net migration from those countries was just 5,000 – the lowest since they joined the EU in 2004.