UK net migration falls 20% in year to this June

LONDON

Annual net migration to the UK dropped to 728,000 in the year up to this June, meaning a 20% fall on the previous year, official figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said on Thursday.

The newly revised figures showed a 20% drop from a record 906,000 in the year to June 2023 which had been revised upwards by 166,000 from an initial estimate of 740,000.

According to the ONS data, in the 12 months to this June, some 1.2 million people are estimated to have arrived in Britain, while almost 480,000 are likely to have left.

Mary Gregory, head of the statistics office, said while net migration remains "historically" high, it is beginning to fall.

However, despite a decrease in net migration, government spending on asylum jumped 36%.

In 2022-2023, spending on asylum in Britain was at £3.95 billion ($4.99 billion), while it rose to £5.38 billion in 2023-2024.

Moving to take credit, James Cleverly, a former Conservative Party home secretary, said that today's fall in net migration is a result of changes he brought in.

"Numbers are still too high, but we see the first significant downward trend in years. Changes that Labour opposed and haven’t fully implemented," he wrote on X, referring to the current Labour government.

Cleverly's predecessor Suella Braverman also claimed that a 20% drop in immigration since June 2023 is a result of the changes she "fought for and introduced in May 2023 as Home Secretary."

Defeating the Conservative government in elections, Labour returned to power this July.