Net migration to the United Kingdom was an estimated 728,000 in the year to June 2024, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
That is down 20 per cent from a record 906,000 in the year to June 2023. This total has been revised upwards by 166,000 from the initial estimate of 740,000.
The new data, released at 9.30 am, shows the difference between the number of people arriving in the UK and those leaving.
In the 12 months to June 2024, some 1.2 million people are estimated to have arrived in the UK, while 479,000 are said to have left.
Commenting on the latest migration figures, ONS director Mary Gregory said: “Since 2021, long-term international migration to the UK has been at unprecedented levels.
“This has been driven by a variety of factors, including the war in Ukraine and the effects of the post-Brexit immigration system. Pent-up demand for study-related immigration because of travel restrictions during the coronavirus pandemic also had an impact.
“While remaining high by historic standards, net migration is now beginning to fall and is provisionally down 20 per cent in the 12 months to June 2024.
“Over that period we have seen a fall in immigration, driven by declining numbers of dependants on study visas coming from outside the EU.
“Over the first six months of 2024, we are also seeing decreases in the number of people arriving for work-related reasons. This is partly related to policy changes earlier this year and is consistent with visa data published by Home Office.
“We are also starting to see increases in emigration, most notably for those who came to the UK on study-related visas. This is likely to be a consequence of the higher numbers of students coming to the UK post-pandemic who are now reaching the end of their courses.”
The new figures came as the government announced changes to migration rules for companies that exploit foreign workers and flout visa regulations.
Employers who repeatedly “commit serious offences” will be barred from hiring foreign workers for at least two years, a rise from the existing 12 month maximum sanction.
“Serious offences” include repeatedly breaking visa rules or committing serious breaches of employment law, such as not paying the national minimum wage.
Minister for migration and citizenship Seema Malhotra said in a statement: “Worker exploitation is completely unacceptable.
“Shamefully, these practices have been seen particularly in our care sector, where workers coming to the UK to support our health and social care service have all too often found themselves plunged into unjustifiable insecurity and debt.
“This can, and must, end.”
Commenting ahead of the release of new data, shadow home secretary Chris Philp admitted that “successive governments have made mistakes on migration”.
Going forward, Philp told Sky News, the Conservative Party will take a “new approach” that “would involve very significant reductions in net migration”.
“We’d like to do more. That will include a hard cap on the number of net migrants allowed in”, he added.
Speaking to BBC Breakfast earlier on Thursday morning, Philp also called for more investment in technology and automation.
He said: “In some other countries they use a lot more automation, a lot more technology rather than simply importing a lot of low wage migrant labour.
“So, to give an example, in Australia and New Zealand they are rolling out robotic and automated fruit and vegetable picking equipment, in South Korea they use nine times the number of robots in manufacturing processes compared to us.
“In America they use a lot more modular construction which is much faster and much more efficient.
“There’s a lot of things British industry can do to grow without needing to import large numbers of low wage migrants.”
Josh Self is Editor of Politics.co.uk, follow him on Bluesky here.
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