Migrants add 250,000 every year to Britain’s population since 2004

IMMIGRATION has added an average of 250,000 to the population every year since 2004, a report has revealed.

Some 3.25million extra foreign citizens – equivalent to three times the population of Birmingham – settled here over the period, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

It means an average of 684 people have started a new life in Britain every day for 13 years – adding to the pressure on schools, hospitals and other infrastructure.

In 2016, a total of 588,000 foreign citizens arrived in the UK, while 339,000 left – meaning net migration was around 249,000.

The ONS bulletin predicted the UK population could leap from 65.5million to just over 76million within a generation if high levels of immigration persist, along with life expectancies and birth rates continuing to rise.

Demographers expect the figure to be reached by 2046 as the number of people living in the country steadily increases.

The report drew fresh warnings yesterday that the country faces severe strain on essential services and resources unless poli- ticians bring down immigration rates. Prime Minister Theresa May has reiterated her pledge to cut net migration to the ‘tens of thousands’ but it has been stubbornly running far higher for several years.

Leading think-tank Migration Watch, which campaigns for lower migration, said accounting for the indirect effects of migration – those foreign citizens who also have children – the population could even hit 77million as early as 2039.

Lord Green of Deddington, chairman of Migration Watch, said: ‘Our country is getting ever more overcrowded.

‘With three- quarters of our long-term population increase due to immigration, the Government absolutely must get the numbers down and soon.’

It total, around 1.9million EU citizens have set up home in Britain since 2004, when Tony Blair threw open the country’s doors to the newly-enlarged group.

Poland and seven other former Soviet Bloc countries joined the EU that year along with Cyprus and Malta.

On top of this, some 1.3million non-EU immigrants have moved to live in the UK.

Campaigners said the figures showed that Britain had to press on with leaving the European Union if it wanted to control its borders and plan properly for the future.