According to the agency, the increase was mainly due to the arrival of residents from countries that are not members of the European Union. This group consists of 925,000 people. These are mainly people who come to the UK for work, education or for humanitarian reasons. The latter group includes Ukrainians and Hong Kongers, who have special visa arrangements.
Migration has been a sensitive and widely discussed topic in British politics for many years and has also played a role in the realization of Brexit. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak promised to tackle soaring immigration figures when he took office last year. He said the figures handed out on Thursday were too high. According to him, the steps already taken will pay off in the long term, but other steps are also being considered at the same time.
The UK government’s most controversial action is the deportation of asylum seekers to Rwanda. Forced evictions have sparked worldwide condemnation, but have yet to happen due to the legal battles that are being fought over. Britain is also trying to lower immigration numbers by working with France, where tens of thousands of migrants took small boats to make the treacherous crossing to Britain last year.
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