UK Office for National Statistics Estimates Annual Net Immigration Now Up to 282,000

immigration
JUSTIN TALLIS/AFP via Getty Images
Jack Montgomery

Mass immigration into the United Kingdom increased by tens of thousands in the year to mid-2020, according to estimates from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

“Net migration, largely driven by non-EU arrivals but also some British citizens coming home before the pandemic fully hit the UK, was higher than the historical average up to March 2020,” the state agency explained in a blog post — although it cautioned that its figures are “highly provisional and uncertain” due to already inadequate data collection methods being disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic.

The ONS said that there appeared to be “a notable change due to the impact of travel restrictions” from March, with net migration over April, May, and June — the endpoint for the estimates — thought to be around -50,000.

“Taking this data into account, our preliminary analysis suggests the UK population grew to 67.1 million by mid-2020 – a 0.5 per cent annual increase from mid-2019,” the explainer noted.

Britain’s governing Conservative party claimed it would reduce net immigration “from the hundreds of thousands to the tens of thousands” ahead of the 2010, 2015, and 2017 elections, under the leadership of both David Cameron and Theresa May, but never gave even the appearance of attempting to meet the target — indeed, George Osborne, Cameron’s right-hand man and Chancellor of the Exchequer, would boast that the party leadership never intended to meet the target after Brexit ended his Cabinet career, and that top Conservative politicians opposed it in private.

Incumbent prime minister Boris Johnson, who called for amnesty for illegal aliens as Mayor of London and as Foreign Secretary in the May government, has simply dropped the long unmet promise altogether, although his government has still suggested that it expects to bring net immigration down overall.

“Even with Brexit looming and three months of lockdown, plus the impact of COVID on travel, net migration in the year to June 2020 was 282,000, an increase of 76,000 on the previous year,” claimed Migration Watch chairman Alp Mehmet in comments on the new ONS estimates received by Breitbart London.

“Hidden in the announcement is that net migration peaked at over a third of a million in the year to February 2020. Immigration is clearly still very high but even this inflow could well rise sharply as the government’s major loosening of the immigration system takes effect. This is not the control that the electorate was promised,” he observed.

The Johnson administration, perhaps aided by the fact that notionally right-wing tabloids such as the Daily Mail and Daily Express which used to press for stronger immigration controls are now run by more left-leaning editors, no longer makes any high profile comments on efforts to reduce net immigration, and while Free Movement from European Union countries has been suspended with Brexit, non-EU immigration is increasing — and being made easier.

Much of the government’s public rhetoric on immigration now focuses on tackling the comparatively small but growing issue of illegal immigration, particularly via small boat in the English Channel.

That is also rising exponentially, however, with no immediate prospect of Priti Patel’s Home Office stopping the situation from getting progressively worse, despite promises that it would be solved after Brexit.

Follow Jack Montgomery on Twitter: @JackBMontgomery
Follow Breitbart London on Facebook: Breitbart London

 

COMMENTS

Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.