The Government has pledged to reduce immigration to the UK, as the latest figures revealed a record-breaking number of people coming to live in the country.
Figures released by the Office for National Statistics show that 613,000 people moved to the UK in the year to June 2020, far exceeding the 415,000 people who migrated in the year to June 2019.
The surge was driven by EU immigration which almost tripled in the same period, with 211,000 people moving to the UK from the bloc in the year ending June 2020 compared with 77,000 in the previous year.
In response to the figures, the Chancellor Rishi Sunak has vowed to cut UK immigration to more “sustainable” levels and stated that it was “unsustainable” for the country to continue to absorb such large numbers of new migrants.
He added that the Government is working to introduce a points-based immigration system once the UK leaves the EU so that they can ensure that only the most highly skilled people come to the UK.
The Home Secretary Priti Patel has also pledged to reduce immigration, saying that the figures “underline why it is so important that we safeguard our borders”.
