British immigration hits record levels, exacerbating a dilemma for Sunak
Immigration to Britain has surged to a new high, an unwelcome record for a government internally divided over how to manage migration policy, more than two years after Brexit gave it full control over the country, according to data released on Thursday. who can legally enter the country.
The new stats showed that the migration balance rose to 606,000 by 2022, underscoring the dilemma facing Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who faces growing political pressure to curb arrivals even as he tries to revive a sluggish economy hampered by a labor shortage.
Although the number was lower than many expected, the upward trend in immigration has led to tensions at the highest echelons of Mr Sunak’s government, whose conservative party has been in power for 13 years but has failed to win successive to fulfill promises to reduce immigration. numbers of people entering the country.
Mr Sunak and his supporters could point to signs that the most recent figures have been swelled by circumstances that are unlikely to repeat themselves: Britain admitted nearly 160,000 people from Ukraine and Hong Kong in the period they cover, suggesting that a significant part of the increase is temporary .
When Britain voted in a referendum to leave the European Union in 2016, Brexit campaigners vowed to take back control of the country’s borders. slightly less than double the pre-Brexit peak.
The cabinet minister responsible for migration, Suella Braverman, is a hawk on this issue, and she seems to be critical of her administration’s policies in this area; last year she said she wanted net migration numbers to fall below 100,000 a year.
Her comments have even led to speculation that Ms Braverman could step down over immigration policy and try to position herself as a potential successor to Mr Sunak if the Conservatives lose the next general election, which is expected to take place next year.
Beneath the political tensions lies a striking change in the profile of immigrants since post-Brexit rules came into full force in January 2021, the date when EU citizens lost their automatic right to work in Britain and faced the same visa restrictions as other nationalities.
Since then, the number of Eastern Europeans entering Britain has dwindled to a trickle, with British employers increasingly recruiting from India, Nigeria, Pakistan and the Philippines, as well as other non-European countries.
Britain has also offered asylum to a significant number of refugees from Ukraine, Hong Kong and Afghanistan, boosting numbers. Legal immigration rose to 504,000 — the highest number before Thursday — for the 12 months between June 2021 and June 2022.
Overall, opinion polls have shown that the public is less concerned about legal migration in the years following the Brexit referendum, although Sunak, since becoming prime minister last autumn, has focused on tackling illegal immigration and stopping the flow asylum seekers cross the English Channel from France in small boats.
Alarm over rising legal immigration has been mounting among lawmakers in Mr Sunak’s Conservative Party, and when challenged on the issue last week he admitted the numbers were “too high”.
In an attempt to anticipate Thursday’s announcement, the government announced earlier this week that it would prevent thousands of international students from bringing family members into the country.