LONDON: UK net migration fell to an estimated 728,000 in the year to June 2024, down 20 per cent from a record high of 906,000 the previous year, official figures showed on Thursday.

Migration was a major issue at the general election in July, when Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labour Party ousted the Conservatives.

Support for ex-premier Rishi Sunak’s party was badly hit by the Tories’ failure to deliver on promises to reduce the migration figures, with many voters defecting to the anti-immigration Reform UK party.

The latest figures come as the Office for National Statistics (ONS) also revised upwards the figure for the year to June 2023.

It said net migration — the difference between the number of people arriving in Britain and those leaving — was 906,000 for the period, 166,000 higher than its previous estimate of 740,000.

The data showed that overall some 1.2 million people are estimated to have arrived in the UK in the year to June 2024, while around 479,000 left.

The drop in arrivals is partly attributed to rule changes introduced by the Conservatives in January that restrict the ability of most international students to bring family members to the UK.

The ONS said another factor was “the large number of students who came to the UK post-pandemic now reaching the end of their courses”.

The Conservatives won a landslide under the leadership of Boris Johnson at the 2019 election, largely on a promise to bring net migration numbers down.

The party repeatedly promised that leaving the European Union, which ended the free movement of people from member states, would allow the UK to “take back control” of its borders.

Published in Dawn, November 29th, 2024