“Annual Net Migration to UK Hits Record High of 606,000, Putting Pressure on Prime Minister Rishi Sunak”

Annual net migration to the UK hit a record high of 606,000 last year, Reuters reports.

The official figures have put pressure on British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who has promised to lower the figures.

The increase is due to an influx of non-EU nationals, including refugees under the UK government’s Ukraine visa scheme and people migrating for work and education, the Office for National Statistics said.

High levels of legal migration have long been a leading issue in Britain’s political discourse, namely this issue was one of the main drivers for the 2016 Brexit referendum.

For more than a decade, several Conservative-led governments have pledged to reduce migration, targeting a net figure of less than 100,000.

However, figures from the Office for National Statistics show that by the end of December 2022, a total of 606,000 people had arrived in the country for the year.

“The main reasons for this growth are people coming to the UK from countries outside the EU for work, study and humanitarian purposes, including arrivals from Ukraine and Hong Kong,” said Jay Lindup, director of the Center for International Migration at the Office for National Statistics.

According to him, there is evidence that immigration has slowed in recent months.

Previous figures covering the year ending June 2022 reported a net figure of 504,000, which was subsequently revised upwards – also to 606,000 people.

The leaders of the Brexit campaign claimed that nleaving the European Union will give Britain greater control over its bordersand many who voted to leave the Union cited high migration and the pressure they say it is putting on public services as a factor in their decision.

A record 40,000 migrants arrived in Britain this year

Crossing the English Channel became a cause for scandals between countries

However, in recent years Britain has introduced visa schemes for nationals from Ukraine and the former colony of Hong Kong after businesses in sectors such as engineering, construction and catering appealed to the government to allow them to hire international staff.

Net migration to Britain in 2015, the year before the referendum, was 329,000.

Sunak promised to reduce legal migration without specifying a specific target figure. Earlier this week, the government announced it would revoke the right of some international students to bring family members into the country.

Sunak promised to deal with illegal migration as well, after tens of thousands of people have arrived in the country crossing the English Channel by boat in recent years.

Council of Europe dissuades London from new migrant law

The bill was inconsistent with Britain’s international obligations

Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson reached an agreement to send in the African country of Rwanda, tens of thousands of migrantsmany of whom had traveled from Afghanistan, Syria or other war-torn countries.

However, this decision was challenged in court after the first scheduled deportation flight was blocked from a last-minute order issued by the European Court of Justice on human rights. It was ruled legal by London’s High Court in December, but its opponents are trying to appeal the ruling.