The population of England and Wales has grown by more than 700,000 in the year to June 2024 – the second-largest increase in over 75 years.

The change was largely fuelled by international migration, with natural change – the difference between births and deaths – accounting for only a small proportion.

According to the Office for National Statistics, there were an estimated 61.8 million people in England and Wales in mid-2024, up from 61.1 million the year before.

It is the second-largest numerical jump since at least 1949, when comparable data began.

And it is behind only the rise of 821,210 that took place in the preceding 12 months from mid-2022 to mid-2023.

Nigel Henretty of the ONS said the population of the two countries has increased each year since mid-1982, but said the rate of population increases has been higher in recent years.

“Net international migration continues to be the main driver of this growth, continuing the long-term trend seen since the turn of the century,” he said.

Net international migration – the difference between people moving to the country and leaving – accounted for 690,147 of the estimated population increase of 706,881 people, or 98% of the total.

There were slightly more births than deaths in the most recent year, which added 29,982 to the population.

There was also a net decrease in internal migration – the number of people moving from England and Wales to elsewhere in the UK.

In Altrincham near Manchester, two opposing groups have gathered to throw insults at each other across the A56.

“Fascists! Racists!” shouts one lot.

On the opposing verge, they shout back: “Shame on you!”

Then both sides chant: “Whose streets? Our streets!”

Cars flash between them, some adding hoots to the noise.

It’s 5pm on Sunday and much of the nation is united watching the Lionesses in the Euro finals.

Yet here is a dual carriageway of division formed in front of what has become a beacon for unrest – a hotel housing asylum seekers.

Sky News has been testing the mood in Altrincham since locals were first informed last November that the Cresta Court Hotel was being repurposed from accommodating short business stays and local events into lodgings for hundreds of male asylum seekers who crossed the Channel on small boats.

Over the course of eight months there have been angry town meetings, regular low-level protests and last Sunday around 80 people from each side turned up outside the hotel with banners, flags and loudspeakers.

“We stopped the Germans, why can’t we stop dinghies,” says local man Dave Haydock under a St George’s cross cap.

“We’re paying for them to be in there and there’s British people out on the streets,” added local businessman Steve, who is waving a Union Flag. “They’re not fleeing a war to come to Britain – they’re coming from France – they are coming because of all the benefits – and everyone in the UK now knows that.”

Cost, benefits and risk to women are recurring themes.

“These people coming over without any documentation,” says local Clare Jones as she points in the direction of two schools. “I’m not a racist. I’m just a concerned mum. I don’t feel safe in my own community.”

A man behind a mask who didn’t want to appear on camera says the media “sneers” at these protests because the media is middle class and “this is a working-class movement”.

Altrincham is one of Manchester’s most affluent towns, but there are much poorer areas close by.

The social demographic at the protests was mixed.

On either side of the A56 I met business owners, nurses, teachers and pensioners.

Both groups were also largely made up of locals.

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A handful of social media “professional” protesters also turned up, pointing cameras at anything they could film – making selfie videos for their TikTok and YouTube followers.

A small line of police officers was in place to keep the peace.

The counter-protesters forming a line to protect the hotel. Described as “lefties” by the anti-migrant demonstrators, the counter-protesters feel that the people opposite are either “far right, fascists” or “being manipulated by the far right”.

Altrincham resident Alison O’Connell said “this is very frightening” as she pointed at the anti-migrant demonstrators. “We are just here to show support for the refugees in the hotel,” she added.

Counter-protester Steph Phoenix said: “Knowing personally people in the hotels, I know they are not coming for our money. These people are desperate. They don’t come over for a laugh, they are coming over because they are escaping something terrible in their own country.”

Nahella Ashraf, co-chair of Greater Manchester Stand Up To Racism, said: “There needs to be an honest conversation about what the problems are in society. Refugees are not to blame. People are worried about the cost of living crisis, but it’s not caused by refugees. By housing people in these hotels, we’ve not taken accommodation away from anyone in Britain.”

Migrants disappeared into their rooms during the protest, some peering out of their bedroom windows.

Their voices are rarely heard in this debate.

The next day, hotel security advised them not to talk to us.

Those we did speak to all had stories of fleeing instability and threat. Some had just arrived, others had been here months.

Many were anxious about the protests, but equally not put off from their decision to come.

One said he had recently told a local who had been abusive: “I struggled to get here. It was just luck you were born here.”

The fears of increased crime expressed by residents in November don’t appear to have transpired. But Conservative councillor Nathan Evans, who called the first town meeting, says groups of men in the park, men praying in the public library and warning letters from schools to parents about groups of men near the school gates have all caused “an unease across the town”. He says he has warned the police of a “simmering issue”.

Protesters on either side don’t agree on much but both see the hotel as a symbol of broken promises from successive governments – a failure to manage migration in a way that doesn’t inflame communities. What remains is anger.

Managing and containing that anger is a growing challenge.

One year on, how’s Keir Starmer’s government going? We’ve put together an end-of-term report with the help of pollster YouGov.

First, here are the government’s approval ratings – drifting downwards.

It didn’t start particularly high. There has never been a honeymoon.

But here is the big change. Last year’s Labour voters now disapprove of their own government. That wasn’t true at the start – but is now.

And remember, it’s easier to keep your existing voter coalition together than to get new ones from elsewhere.

So we have looked at where voters who backed Labour last year have gone now.

YouGov’s last mega poll shows half of Labour voters last year – 51% – say they would vote for them again if an election was held tomorrow.

Around one in five (19%) say they don’t know who they’d vote for – or wouldn’t vote.

But Labour are also leaking votes to the Lib Dems, Greens and Reform.

These are the main reasons why.

A sense that Labour haven’t delivered on their promises is top – just above the cost of living. Some 22% say they’ve been too right-wing, with a similar number saying Labour have “made no difference”. Immigration and public services are also up there.

Now, YouGov asked people whether they think the cabinet is doing a good or a bad job, and combined the two figures together to get a net score.

John Healey and Bridget Phillipson are on top, but the big beats of Angela Rayner, Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves bottom.

But it’s not over for Labour.

Here’s one scenario – 2024 Labour voters say they would much prefer a Labour-led government over a Conservative one.

But what about a Reform UK-led government? Well, Labour polls even better against them – just 11% of people who voted Labour in 2024 want to see them enter Number 10.

Signs of hope for Keir Starmer. But as Labour MPs head off for their summer holidays, few of their voters would give this government an A*.