Net migration to the UK falls by half in 2024

Long-term net migration to the UK fell by close to 50 percent last year, according to the latest official figures. The number of those arriving in the country versus those leaving dropped to 431,000 compared to 860,000 in 2023, according to the UK's Office for National Statistics. 

The ONS says the drop was driven by a significantly lower number of people arriving from countries outside the EU, notably India, Nigeria and Pakistan. 

The ONS has indicated that the fall may also be influenced by legal changes introduced under the previous Conservative government last year. These include preventing international postgraduate students from bringing dependents to the UK and doubling the salary threshold for those arriving on work visas to just under $52,000 a year.

"We are seeing reductions in people arriving on work and study-related visas, and an increase in emigration over the 12 months to December 2024," the group said in a statement.

Voter concern

The figures from the UK's Office for National Statistics will likely come as a relief to the Labour government of Prime Minister Keir Starmer, which has lost significant ground to the right-wing anti-immigrant Reform party in recent local and parliamentary elections.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper called the figures "important and welcome" after steep rises in the number of people arriving in the UK in the years after Brexit. 

Successive opinion polls have shown that immigration remains a top concern for British voters.

Earlier this week Prime Minister Starmer announced new plans to reduce net migration further, warning that the UK risks becoming "an island of strangers."

The new requirements are that skilled worker visas be restricted to university graduates, with an increase in English language requirements and doubling the amount of time migrants need to live in the UK before applying for permanent settled status from five years to 10.

The main opposition Conservative party maintains net immigration to the UK remains unsustainably high. As well as calling for speedier removals of illegal migrants and foreign-born criminals, the party has called for "a binding annual cap on immigration set by Parliament at much, much lower levels."

Small-boat crossings

However, separate government data just released shows the number of so-called "irregular arrivals" to the UK is continuing to rise. 44,000 people arrived on this route in the 12 months to the end of March. 

Over eighty percent of these were on the treacherous small boats crossing from France. More than 800 migrants arrived in the UK on Monday taking this route, the highest number ever in a 24-hour period.