Lack of data fuelled migration fear

Anxiety about illegal immigration has been allowed to “grow unchecked” because of a shortage of official information on the scale of the problem, a Commons committee has warned.

MPS said the lack of data has been perceived as the government showing “indifference” towards an issue of “high public interest”.

A report published by the Home Affairs Committee describes the “long-standing paucity” of figures on the number of people in the UK unlawfully as a “serious concern”. Officials insist it is not possible to quantify accurately the number of overseas nationals in the country illegally.

Last year a former immigration enforcement chief claimed the figure was likely to run to more than a million.

Thirteen years ago a Home Office assessment put the total unauthorised migrant population living in the UK in 2001 at 430,000.

A report published by think-tank Civitas in June suggested that illegal immigration is running at a minimum of 150,000 a year.

This would include those who remain beyond the period allowed under their visas, or after asylum claims are rejected, as well as people who arrived with no legal entitlement in the first place.

The Home Affairs Committee’s report says: “We recognise the government’s concern that to create an official estimate of overall illegal immigration without any reliable evidence would not add value to the debate.

“However, we also believe that more analysis of the scale and nature of the problem of illegal immigration is needed in order to develop appropriate policy responses and reassure the public that the issue is being addressed seriously.”

Exit data and other sources should be used to produce an annual estimate of the numbers who have breached immigration rules to stay in the country, according to the report.