More migrants take their leave

More migrants from eight eastern European countries are now leaving the UK than coming for the first time since the nations joined the EU in 2004, official figures show.

Estimated net long-term migration from the so-called EU8 states including Poland and Czech Republic has dropped sharply since the Brexit vote in 2016. Now the measure – the difference between the numbers arriving and leaving the UK for at least 12 months – has registered a minus figure for the first time since the enlargement of the bloc 14 years ago.

A similar downward trend has occurred for other groups of EU states.