Poles now outnumber Indians in Britain

POLAND has overtaken India as the largest foreign-born community in Britain after a decade of mass migration.

On a day when damning figures showed net migration still running at near record levels, it was revealed that Poland had skipped ahead of India and Ireland as the most common non-UK country of birth for people living in Britain.

Some 831,000 Polish-born people have set up home in the UK – a leap of more than half a million since Tony Blair’s government threw open the country’s borders to Eastern Europe.

The figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) signalled the end of the legacy of migration from the days of the British Empire.

The surge of 41,000 Polish arrivals last year meant that 795,000 Indian-born residents – the largest overseas group since 2004 – were pushed into second place. This means Poles now account for nearly one in ten of the country’s 8.6million foreign-born population.

Nicola White, of the ONS, said: ‘Poland is now the most common non-UK country of birth, overtaking India for the first time.

‘The number of Polish-born citizens living in the UK has continued to increase since Poland joined the EU.’

The number of EU nationals living in Britain was 3.2million – more than doubling since Poland and seven other former Eastern bloc countries joined the European Union in 2004.

Madeleine Sumption, of Oxford University’s Migration Observatory, said: ‘Traditionally the UK’s relationship with Ireland and the former colonies have been key factors in shaping its migrant population.

‘What we can see from current data is that in recent years the EU has played a similar role.’

Dariusz Laska, charge d’affaires at the Polish Embassy, said: ‘Britain was the refuge of the Polish governmentin- exile and free Poles during World War Two and the time of communism.

‘The Polish community is a mixture of the descendants of those wartime and anti-communist exiles and those who decided to move to the UK after Poland joined the EU, who all equally contribute to Britain’s culture, society, and economy.’