What’s driven UK’s astounding immigration levels – including some unprecedented highs

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4 hours ago

September 10, 2025

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One of the great tragedies of the way immigration policy has been debated in this country for years, if not decades, is that the conversation is mostly voiced in emotive rather than rational terms.

Those who air fears about the flows of foreign-born people into the UK are dismissed as bigots (most famously by Gordon Brown). Those who argue that immigrants are good for the economy are dismissed as being deluded or blind to a mounting crisis.

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So what’s actually going on? Well, let’s take a deep breath, try if we can to ignore all the emotions, and focus instead on the numbers. What do those numbers tell us?

Highest net migration in British history

Well, the big picture is… big. The total flows of migrants coming into the country in recent years have been nothing short of astounding. While the figures have plateaued in the past 18 months or so, as of late 2023, immigration (which is to say, people coming to live here) was running at roughly 1.3 million people a year. Subtract those emigrating in that period (roughly 400,000), and that leaves you with net migration of nearly 900,000 people.

This is such a large number it’s actually quite hard to get your head around it, but here’s one way. As a percentage of the population (it comes out at about 1.25%), this is the highest net migration this country has ever experienced, since roughly comparable records began hundreds of years ago. Indeed, I cannot find another similar episode running back to the reign of Henry VIII.

How did we get here?

It wasn’t all that long ago that David Cameron was promising to reduce net migration to the “tens of thousands” each year. So how did we get to a place where net migration was close to running into seven figures?

In large part, the answer comes back to the introduction of the new post-Brexit migration rules implemented under Boris Johnson’s government. Among these reforms were measures making it comparatively easier for non-EU nationals to get visas. There were also, perhaps even more importantly, new student visa rules making it easier to come and study in this country.

Students and government policy

The upshot is that numbers of students from countries around the world (but mostly outside the EU, led by India, China, Nigeria, and Pakistan) flowed into this country. The extent to which these visas were really quasi-working visas, enabling young workers to come into this country to work in the gig economy, is something economists and officials are still picking over even now. But what is clear is that there is nothing normal about this influx.

It’s perhaps worth underlining at this stage that this immigration – the record flows, greater than anything we’ve seen since at least Henry VIII – is nearly all legal. These are people coming into the country not illegally or on small boats or via the asylum system, but having been issued with visas by the Home Office. This was a direct result of government policy (as well as the economic incentives of coming to a country like the UK). But that raises another question: how much of this was small boats?

After all, the vast majority of coverage in papers and television news in recent weeks has fixated on the small boats. So how much of that total do they account for? In short, just under 5% of the total.

None of this is to say small boats aren’t a very big issue for the UK. But, surprising as this might sound, given how many column inches are devoted to them, they are absolutely dwarfed by the legal flows.

High legal migration – but small boats still at record levels

And while the flows of legal immigration to Britain (and, for that matter, student immigration) are among the highest in the developed world, flows of asylum seekers are considerably lower than in most other countries. Britain may rank number one in the OECD on students and number two on overall immigration, but it only saw the eighth-biggest flows of asylum seekers in the most recent year for which we have data (2023).

Of the total flows into the UK in the most recent time period, small boat arrivals accounted for a mere 4.8%. The vast majority is legal migration.

But that being said, the totals coming in on small boats and into the asylum system are nonetheless at unprecedented highs. Moreover, in recent years, asylum seekers have been less likely to be removed from the country. A growing proportion have been bailed, pending their cases, with the upshot that right now the total number of asylum seekers around the UK is close to 125,000 – about the size of Cambridge.

All of which is to say, both of the following statements are true: Firstly, small boats are a tiny fraction of overall immigration, and secondly, Small boat numbers are higher than ever before and are contributing to unprecedented levels of asylum seekers in the UK.

Britain is far from the only country to face these challenges. The question now is whether it can succeed in bringing down the flows and the backlog in the coming years.

Politics

DC attorney general sues Athena Bitcoin over alleged hidden fees

Published

2 hours ago

September 10, 2025

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DC attorney general sues Athena Bitcoin over alleged hidden fees

The attorney general for the District of Columbia, Brian Schwalb, alleges that Athena Bitcoin charged undisclosed fees and had insufficient safeguards to stop fraud and scams.

Politics

Immigration becomes voters’ top issue for first time since Brexit

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4 hours ago

September 10, 2025

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Immigration becomes voters' top issue for first time since Brexit

Immigration and asylum is back as the top issue of public concern the first time since Brexit, according to exclusive polling for Sky News.

It overtook the economy as the number one issue facing the country in YouGov’s latest poll in May, even before the summer dominated by the migration debate.

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It is now at the highest point level of concern in over five years, since the small boats started crossing the Channel in significant numbers.

In the most recent YouGov poll, 58% picked immigration as one of the three top issues facing the country at the moment, while 51% pointed to the economy, 29% health and 22% crime.

The overwhelming majority of the public think this is because immigration is too high, with 70% saying this, 18% saying it’s about right, and 3% saying it is too low.

For decades, until very recently, successive prime ministers and chancellors have told voters that migration is a public good, but the public has not bought this argument.

Some 50% think immigration is having a negative impact on the UK, with 22% saying the benefits are equally weighed and 22% also saying that it has a positive effect.

The exclusive polling also reveals whether the public think other governments would be better at dealing with migration and small boats than Labour are.

Less than one in five – just 18% – think a Tory government would be doing much better, with 55% thinking they would be the same and 12% worse.

The more hardline approach outlined by Reform UK appears to have be noticed by the public. Some 40% think a Reform government would be handling migration and small boats better, and 26% the same, with 19% worse.

YouGov interviewed 2,268 GB adults between 31 August and 1 September.

Politics

Bridget Phillipson emerges as frontrunner in Labour’s deputy leadership race

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7 hours ago

September 10, 2025

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Bridget Phillipson emerges as frontrunner in Labour's deputy leadership race

Bridget Phillipson has emerged as the early frontrunner in the Labour deputy leadership race as other candidates scramble to catch up ahead of a crunch deadline.

The education secretary had the backing of 44 colleagues as of 6pm on Tuesday, according to the first official tally released by the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) since nominations opened.

Former Commons leader Lucy Powell, who was sacked by Sir Keir Starmer in his reshuffle last week, is close behind with 35, followed by backbenchers Bell Ribeiro-Addy with eight, Dame Emily Thornberry with seven and Paula Barker with three.

Housing minister Alison McGovern is currently coming last with two nominations, though sources on her campaign team suggested this did not reflect the true level of support behind her.

Candidates have until 5pm on Thursday to receive the backing of 80 colleagues, meaning there is still plenty left to play for as less than 100 MPs have made their official nominations so far, out of 398.

A fresh tally will be published by the PLP on Wednesday evening, though MPs may publicly reveal who they are backing before then.

Those not on the PLP’s current list include Southport MP Patrick Hurley, who has thrown his weight behind Ms McGovern in a post on X.

Candidates will have the chance to woo undecided colleagues during a hustings event on Wednesday evening, but there are fears it could descend into chaos as the event will be held online only.

That means hundreds of MPs will have just one hour to quiz the six contenders virtually. It is not clear if or how the event will be moderated.

Ms Barker, the MP for Liverpool Wavertree, expressed concern about the logistics of the contest.

Asked if she feels confident she can get the numbers, she told Sky News: “I think the very tight timeframe and the fact hustings for MPs are being held online 8pm – 9pm when the majority of colleagues are travelling home undoubtedly compounds the issue.

“Of course, that is an issue to be addressed by whoever wins the race and at this moment in time we are all in the same boat.”

However, a Labour source defended the decision, saying: “There’s frankly no convenient time to do it. Ministers will have busy diaries serving the public during the day… priority has to remain public service.”

Ms Ribeiro-Addy has also criticised the contest’s rules, telling Sky News’ Politics Hub with Sophy Ridge that having just a few days to get 80 nominations “doesn’t feel right”, especially given the winner is “ultimately decided by members”.

Candidates who make it through the first round must go on to win the support of either 5% of Constituency Labour Parties (CLPs) or three organisations affiliated to the party, two of which must be trade unions.

The successful candidates will then appear on the ballot for a vote of all party members and affiliated party supporters, with results declared on 25 October.

The six-week timeline was set by Labour’s ruling National Executive Committee but will be overseen by the party machinery who insist they will work with all candidates to give them a fair hearing.

There are many MPs and ministers who want to see the contest done quickly, to avoid it being a distraction from the government’s priorities.

Explainer: Who is standing to replace Angela Rayner as deputy Labour leader?

Candidates make their pitch

The race was triggered by the resignation of former deputy prime minister and housing secretary Angela Rayner after she admitted underpaying stamp duty on a flat she bought in Hove.

Following calls for her replacement to be a Northern woman, all six candidates who entered are female, though Ms Ribeiro-Addy and Dame Emily represent seats in London.

Ms Phillipson and Ms McGovern are seen as candidates that would remain loyal to Number 10, which some MPs want to see to avoid the party becoming more divided. They both honed in on their Northern roots while pitching themselves as the candidate to take on Reform UK when announcing their deputy leadership bids on Tuesday.

Clapham and Brixton Hill MP Ms Ribeiro-Addy is seen as the left-wing candidate, and has the backing of many MPs in the Socialist Campaign Group (SCG) such as Corbynite Richard Burgon.

However, Ms Baker, a former trade union official and Ms Thornberry, chair of the foreign affairs committee, have also vowed to challenge the government on issues like welfare and Gaza.

Manchester Central MP Ms Powell was recently ousted from government and said she decided to stand “after much encouragement” from colleagues.

A Survation survey of 1,308 Labour members who read the LabourList website suggested Ms Phillipson was the most popular choice for the role.