The Office for National Statistics has revealed new data showing that net migration to Britain has fallen to its lowest in two years, which was down by 49,000 from the previous year.
The decrease in net migration is suggested to have been driven by an increase in the number of people from the so-called EU8 countries: Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia, which increased from 12,000 to 39,000.
This increase in emigration could be linked to the spike in hate crimes during and immediately after the referendum campaign.
Despite the increase in emigration, immigration into the UK is still on the rise from Bulgaria and Romania. Nicola White, head of international migration statistics at the ONS, said that “it is too early to say what effect the referendum result has had on long-term international migration,”
Theresa May, who hopes to cut annual net migration to under 100,000 and has promised to ensure Britain regains control of immigration as part of its deal when leaving the EU.
“The fall in net migration is encouraging. But this is just one set of statistics and we must not get carried away. We will continue to make progress to bring down net migration to the tens of thousands.” said the Immigration Minister, Robert Goodwill.
“We will continue reforming routes to the UK from outside Europe and will use the opportunity to take control of immigration from within the EU as we begin Brexit negotiations in the coming weeks. The UK will always welcome those who contribute and benefit our country, but there is no consent for uncontrolled immigration.”
Other points within the newly released ONS statistics included:
- The number of non-EU citizens from Africa, the Americas and Oceania leaving the UK increased by 11,000, to 39,000.
- The 134,000 people coming to the UK to study was a marked decreased, down by 41,000 from September 2015. The majority of these were non-EU citizens – 87,000, down by 31,000
- A fall of 10,000 in people coming to the UK from eight Eastern European countries which joined the EU in 2004, to 58,000