London – Less work and study visas contributed to a net migration in the United Kingdom in the United Kingdom, the number of people who move to the United Kingdom except the number of those who move abroad, in 2024, they showed the official figures on Thursday.
The National Statistics Office said the figure stood at an estimated 431,000 in the year, 49.9% less than 860,000 of the previous year. That is the greatest percentage decrease since the height of the Coronavirus pandemic in 2020, and the largest numerical fall for any 12 months.
Great Britain has trusted that people entering the country legally contribute to economic growth, certainly in the decades after World War II, when millions arrived to help rebuild the country. And for years, it was not a big political problem and on the periphery of the debate.
But it has become a politically toxic theme in the last 20 years or so, and has played a key role in the Brexit Vote 2016When Britain voted to leave the European Union. The EU membership comes with the obligation to offer free movement to all citizens of the 27 countries block.
But immigration figures have risen, not below, after Brexit.
The anti -immigration party Reforma UK won a big In recent local elections and is going on many opinion surveys. His argument is that immigration too high is impacting public services, housing and social cohesion as a whole.
The figures published on Thursday do not include those that arrive at the United Kingdom by unauthorized means to search asylum, many straight, Small boats Throughout the La Mancha channel. Although that number is much lower, about 37,000 people crossed the La Mancha channel in small boats last year, it has amplified the heat surrounding the debate.
A more detailed look of Thursday’s figures shows that the largest taxpayer to autumn was a strong decrease in immigration, with the number of people arriving from the United Kingdom below 1 million for the first time in about three years. However, the statistics agency also found that the emigration dates back to the 2017 levels.
The number of arrivals in the United Kingdom increased from 2022 onwards, promoted by many factors, including the more than 200,000 people who fled the Russian War in Ukraine and more than 150,000 Hong Kong in special visas abroad.
The period covered by the latest estimates follows the introduction in early 2024 by the then conservative government of restrictions on eligible people to travel to the United Kingdom at work or study visas. Although the conservatives, now the main opposition party, have tried to claim credit for the decrease, one of the main reasons why they were swept from power after 14 years was the increase in net migration levels to register maximums.
In August, weeks after the Labor Government assumed the position, the country was convulsed by anti -immigrant disturbances in which the mosques and hotels that house asylum applicants were attacked.
The Prime Minister of Labor, Keir Starmer, is trying to obtain net migration levels beyond this month establishes a Series of measures aimed to further reduce the number of people who move in the long term to the United Kingdom
Starmer said that the country runs the risk of becoming an “island of strangers” without better integration, and said that it wanted net migration to have fallen “significantly” in the next general elections, but without giving a specific objective.
Its plan includes the reform work and visa study and require a higher level of English on all immigration routes. Experts think that could reduce the number by another 100,000 a year.
