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Net migration has fallen sharply in the UK, the latest official figures show.

The data, published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), estimates that net migration has halved from 860,000 in the year ending December 2023 to 431,000 in the year ending December 2024.

The drop is the largest ever recorded for a 12-month period, and marks the most significant calendar-year fall in net migration since the early stages of the pandemic.

Politics latest: Net migration to the UK estimated to have halved

Meanwhile, long-term immigration fell below one million for the first time in around three years.

That was estimated to be 948,000 in the year ending December 2024, down by almost a third from 1,326,000 in the previous 12 months and below a million for the first time since the 12 months to March 2022.

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‘We need to reduce immigration’

Emigration rose by around 11% to an estimated 517,000 for the year to December, up from 466,000 in the previous year.

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Home Secretary Yvette Cooper hailed a 300,000 drop in net migration since the start of the Labour government last July as “important and welcome”.

She said: “These figures show a big increase in returns of failed asylum seekers and foreign national offenders, record levels of illegal working penalties, and the asylum backlog and hotel use coming down.”

Net migration hit a record high of 906,000 in June 2023, and stood at 728,000 in the year to June 2024, shortly before Labour took over from the previous Conservative government.

But former home secretary James Cleverly said while Labour “will try to claim credit” for the falling numbers, the changes are a result of policies enacted while he was in government.

What caused this fall in net migration?

The sharp fall reported on Thursday is thought to be driven by a decrease in immigration from non-European Union nationals.

The ONS also noted plummeting numbers of people coming to work and study in the UK.

Additionally, these estimates follow restrictions introduced under the Conservatives in early 2024 on people eligible to travel to the UK on work or study visas.

Mary Gregory, the director of population statistics at the ONS, said the fall is “driven by falling numbers of people coming to work and study, particularly student dependants”.

She said: “There has also been an increase in emigration over the 12 months to December 2024, especially people leaving who originally came on study visas once pandemic travel restrictions to the UK were eased.”

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The new estimates come less than a fortnight after Sir Keir Starmer set out a series of measures aimed at reducing further the number of people moving long term to the UK.

The prime minister, who said the country risks becoming an “island of strangers” without better integration, said he wanted net migration to have fallen “significantly” by the next general election – but refused to set a target number.

Sir Keir’s plan includes reforming work and study visas and requiring a higher level of English across all immigration routes, and is expected to reduce the number of people coming to the UK by up to 100,000 per year.

However, the Conservatives have claimed credit for the fall.

Former home secretary James Cleverly said while Labour “will try to claim credit”, the changes are a result of policies enacted while he was in government.

He said: “This drop is because of the visa rule changes that I put in place. Labour will try to claim credit for these figures but they criticised me at the time, and have failed to fully implement the changes.”

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SBI Holdings denies reports it filed for Bitcoin-XRP dual ETF in Japan

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SBI Holdings denies reports it filed for Bitcoin-XRP dual ETF in Japan

SBI Holdings denies reports it filed for Bitcoin-XRP dual ETF in Japan

An SBI Holdings representative told Cointelegraph that the company had not filed any crypto-asset ETF applications.

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Homelessness minister Rushanara Ali resigns after ‘extortionate’ rent hike claims

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Homelessness minister Rushanara Ali resigns after 'extortionate' rent hike claims

Homelessness minister Rushanara Ali has resigned after reportedly hiking the rent on a property she owns by hundreds of pounds – something described by one of her tenants as “extortion”.

That was just weeks after the previous tenants’ contract ended, The i Paper said.

Four tenants who rented a house in east London from Ms Ali were sent an email last November saying their lease would not be renewed, and which also gave them four months’ notice to leave, the newspaper reported.

The property was then re-listed with a £700 rent increase within weeks, the publication added.

In a letter to the prime minister, Ms Ali said that remaining in her role would be a “distraction from the ambitious work of this government”.

She added: “Further to recent reporting, I wanted to make it clear that at all times I have followed all relevant legal requirements.

“I believe I took my responsibilities and duties seriously, and the facts demonstrate this.”

Laura Jackson, one of Ms Ali’s former tenants, said she and three others collectively paid £3,300 in rent.

Weeks after she and her fellow tenants had left, the self-employed restaurant owner said she saw the house re-listed with a rent of around £4,000.

“It’s an absolute joke,” she said. “Trying to get that much money from renters is extortion.”

Sir Keir Starmer said Ms Ali's work in government would leave a 'lasting legacy'. Pic: PA
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Sir Keir Starmer said Ms Ali’s work in government would leave a ‘lasting legacy’. Pic: PA

Ms Ali’s house, rented on a fixed-term contract, was put up for sale while the tenants were living there, and was only relisted as a rental because it had not sold, according to The i Paper.

The government’s Renters’ Rights Bill includes measures to ban landlords who end a tenancy to sell a property from re-listing it for six months.

The Bill, which is nearing its end stages of scrutiny in Parliament, will also abolish fixed-term tenancies and ensure landlords give four months’ notice if they want to sell their property.

Something Sir Keir’s increasingly unpopular government could have done without


Jon Craig - Chief political correspondent

Jon Craig

Chief political correspondent

@joncraig

Rushanara Ali’s swift and humiliating demise is a classic example of paying the price for the politician’s crime of “Do as I say, not as I do”.

She was Labour’s minister for homelessness, for goodness’ sake, yet she ejected tenants from her near-£1m town house then hiked the rent.

A more egregious case of ministerial double standards it would be difficult to imagine. She had to go and was no doubt told by 10 Downing Street to go quickly.

MP for the East End constituency of Bethnal Green and Stepney, Ms Ali was the very model of a modern Labour minister: a degree in PPE from Oxford University.

In her resignation letter to Sir Keir Starmer, she said she is quitting “with a heavy heart”. Really? She presumably didn’t have a heavy heart when she ejected her four tenants.

She’d previously spoken out against “private renters being exploited” and said the government would “empower people to challenge unreasonable rent increases”.

She was charging her four former tenants £3,300 a month. Yet after they moved out, she charged her new tenants £4,000, a rent increase of more than 20%.

In an area represented by the left-wing firebrand George Galloway from 2005 to 2010, Ms Ali had a majority of under 1,700 at the election last year.

Ominously for Labour, an independent candidate was second and the Greens third. No doubt Jeremy Corbyn’s new party will also stand next time.

In her resignation letter to the PM, Ms Ali said continuing in her ministerial role would be a distraction. Too right.

A distraction Sir Keir and his increasingly unpopular government could have done without.

Responding to her resignation, shadow housing secretary Sir James Cleverly said: “I said that her actions were total hypocrisy and that she should go if the accusations were shown to be true.”

A Liberal Democrat spokesperson said: “Rushanara Ali fundamentally misunderstood her role. Her job was to tackle homelessness, not to increase it.”

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Previously, a spokesperson for Ms Ali said the tenants “stayed for the entirety of their fixed term contract, and were informed they could stay beyond the expiration of the fixed term, while the property remained on the market, but this was not taken up, and they decided to leave the property”.

The prime minister thanked Ms Ali for her “diligent work” and for helping to “deliver this government’s ambitious agenda”.

Sir Keir Starmer said her work in putting in measures to repeal the Vagrancy Act would have a “significant impact”.

And he said she had been trying to encourage “more people to engage and participate in our democracy”, something that would leave a “lasting legacy”.

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Rushanara Ali: Humiliating demise for Labour minister after a most egregious case of double standards

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Rushanara Ali: Humiliating demise for Labour minister after a most egregious case of double standards

Rushanara Ali’s swift and humiliating demise is a classic example of paying the price for the politician’s crime of “do as I say, not as I do”.

She was Labour’s minister for homelessness, for goodness’ sake, yet she ejected tenants from her near-£1m town house and then hiked the rent.

Politics Hub: Minister’s resignation as it happened

A more egregious case of ministerial double standards it would be difficult to imagine. She had to go and was no doubt told by 10 Downing Street to go quickly.

Rushanara Ali reportedly hiked the rent on a property she owns. Pic: PA
Image:
Rushanara Ali reportedly hiked the rent on a property she owns. Pic: PA

‘A heavy heart’ – really?

MP for the East End constituency of Bethnal Green and Stepney, Ms Ali was the very model of a modern Labour minister: A degree in PPE from Oxford University.

In her resignation letter to Sir Keir Starmer, she said she is quitting “with a heavy heart”. Really? She presumably didn’t have a heavy heart when she ejected her four tenants.

She’d previously spoken out against “private renters being exploited” and said her government would “empower people to challenge unreasonable rent increases”.

The now former minister was charging her four former tenants £3,300 a month. Yet after they moved out, she charged her new tenants £4,000 – a rent increase of more than 20%.

Read more politics news:
Fact-checking Farage’s claims
Why chancellor has little to cheer

The report about the Labour MP first emerged in the i newspaper. Pic: UK Parliament
Image:
The report about the Labour MP first emerged in the i newspaper. Pic: UK Parliament

A fragile constituency for Labour?

In an area represented by the left-wing firebrand George Galloway from 2005 to 2010, Ms Ali had a majority of under 1,700 at the election last year.

Ominously for Labour, an independent candidate was second and the Greens third. No doubt Jeremy Corbyn’s new party will also stand next time.

In her resignation letter to the PM, Ms Ali said continuing in her ministerial role would be a distraction. Too right.

A distraction Sir Keir and his increasingly unpopular government could have done without.

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