EU migrants find grass greener at home after pandemic exodus

EU nationals were the majority in an exodus during the pandemic and many have failed to return to the UK, Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures suggest.

Of 100,000 foreigners who left the UK between March and June last year, at the height of the Covid-19 crisis, some 75,000 were Europeans.

More than 200,000 foreigners are estimated to have left the country in total during 2020.

Migration experts suspect that many of those who left decided not to return to the UK as they realised they could find work relatively easily and build a future elsewhere, avoiding the red tape associated with Brexit and uncertainty over their status in the country.

The number of Europeans living in the country has hovered between 3.6 and 3.8 million between 2016 and 2019, according to the ONS.

However, the latest ONS figures show that there were only 3.5 million EU nationals living in the UK in 2020 – a fall of 200,000 people from 3.7 million in 2019. This is the lowest level since the Brexit vote.

In 2015, there were 3.2 million Europeans in the UK.

The findings come after a chronic shortage of HGV drivers and disruption to the supply chain, with fears that food shortages could persist for many months.

Sarah Harper, professor at the University of Oxford, said: “A lot of people went home for a variety of reasons during the pandemic.

“This embedded them back in their countries and it is not surprising that they chose not to return.

“The social, economic and political circumstances in eastern European countries are improving.

“While they came to the UK for wages and job opportunities, that gap is narrowing, so they would prefer to stay with their own family and community.

“There is a view that Britain is so attractive that we will always be able to attract skilled migrants, but many now see really good opportunities at home.”

Prof Harper said red tape due to Brexit has also made migrants reluctant to return.

“EU nationals now have to complete paperwork, there are visa restrictions, they need settled status – that is deterring people from both coming and staying,” she said.

Polish continues to be the most common non-british nationality, making up 738,000 of residents. Romanian is the next most common at 384,000, followed by Irish, Indian and Italian.

200,000

The number of foreigners who have left the country at the height of Covid-19