More EU migrants move to Cov after Brexit vote
BREXIT has not deterred more EU citizens from moving to Coventry, official figures show.
The number of EU citizens living in the city - which voted to leave the EU in the 2016 referendum - has risen by around 5,000 since that vote, according to the latest estimates from the Office for National Statistics.
This 15% increase is greater than across the UK, where the number of Europeans rose by 9% in two years on average.
Data shows that the number of EU migrants living in the area rose from 33,000 in 2016 to 38,000 in June.
The greatest rise was among EU migrants from Western European countries, with an estimated 20% increase in two years.
European citizens accounted for 10.7% of Coventry’s total population, compared with an average of 5.7% for the United Kingdom.
The number of migrants from non-EU countries living in Coventry dropped, from 39,000 in 2016 to 31,000 in June.
The estimates are based on the Annual Population Survey (APS).
They count EU citizens living at private addresses and students in halls of residence whose parents live in the UK.
Students with parents living abroad or migrants living at communal establishments, like hotels or hostels, are excluded.
All the numbers were rounded by the ONS to nearest 1,000.
Madeleine Sumption, director of the Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford said: “The number of EU citizens living in the UK has increased since the referendum, but the pace of change is much slower than in the past.
“This is because fewer EU citizens are choosing to come to the UK and more are leaving.
“The UK has become a less attractive destination.
“Most EU citizens come to the UK for work, and the falling value of the pound means that what they can earn here is now worth less than it was a couple of years ago.
“The political and economic uncertainty of Brexit may also play a role.
“Changes in nationwide migration patterns are likely to affect different areas in different ways, depending on factors like what jobs are on offer in the local economy and what groups of migrants that area has traditionally attracted.”
Office for National StatisticsJay Lindop, director of the Centre for International Migration at the ONS, added that non-EU net migration was as its highest since 2004, mainly spurred by Asian people looking for a job or starting their studies.
She said: “Net migration continues to add to the population and has remained fairly
stable since its peak in 2016.
“However, there are different patterns for EU and nonEU migration.
“Due to increasing numbers arriving for work and study, non-EU net migration is now at the highest level since 2004.
“In contrast, EU net migration, while still adding to the population as a whole, is at the lowest since 2012.
“Decisions to migrate are complex and people’s decision to move to or from the UK will be influenced by a range of factors.”
The ONS estimates that more than 3.7 million EU citizens were living in the UK in June.
Solat Chaudhry, CEO for the National Centre for Diversity, said: “As a country, becoming more ethnically diverse has been a great thing for the UK.
“Together, Britons of all races helped to build the infrastructure and contributed to strengthen the UK in a commercial, social and cultural sense. “In times of austerity problems are given greater prominence and some politicians use the whole debate about immigration to curry favour to pander to the voices of those that irrationally blame immigration for all the ills of our society.
“Many of the day to day forms that I have to complete ask me to identify my identity and the only option I am left with is “British Pakistani” but this is inaccurate as I’m not a Pakistani in any real sense.
“The language I speak, my thoughts, the TV I watch, the sports I enjoy, my lifestyle, my sense of humour and interests are all centred on my identity as an English born citizen of the UK.
“The only thing Pakistani about me is my Pakistani heritage from my parents. I’m English of Pakistani heritage and so is my son.
“One thing I know is that I do not want to live in Pakistan and nor do my children and yet I would always be described as Asian.
“The systemic fundamental error which constantly tells me I am a British Pakistani sets me and other migrants apart and is stopping people from feeling British.”