Warning on influx from outside EU

MINISTERS have ‘failed to make serious efforts’ to reduce immigration from outside Europe, a damning report claims today.

MigrationWatch, a leading think tank, accused the Government of ‘taking their eye off the ball’ over the massive numbers of non-EU migrants coming to live in Britain.

Net migration, the number arriving minus those leaving, from the rest of the world was a record 235,000 in the year to March – equivalent to a city the size of Wolverhampton.

It accounts for nearly threequarters of the total net migration of 271,000, official figures show. The majority of the new arrivals are from South and East Asia. This is despite the Home Office having considerable powers to control this migration, unlike from the EU under free movement rules.

The paper called for Home Secretary Sajid Javid to ‘get into gear’ over the issue. But the Home Office said migration has fallen below peak levels.