Responding to the latest migration data from the Official for National Statistics, Karl Williams, Deputy Research Director, said:
‘The scale of net migration in 2022 makes for shocking but unsurprising reading. Today’s revised total of 745k eclipses the provisional record high figure we were given earlier this year, as CPS analysis predicted.
‘We can now see that net migration in 2022 equated to UK population growth of more than 1%. Immigration can make a valuable contribution to the economy, society, and public services, but these levels are clearly unsustainable. Yet provisional data for the year ending June 2023 suggests that the pace of migration is barely slowing.
‘While the Government is right to focus on stopping small boat crossings, record migration figures are driven primarily by those coming via legal routes. The Government must take action to deliver the control it promised at the last election, for example by tightening rules around dependents, clamping down on students entering the country by enrolling on low-quality university degrees, ending the abuse of legitimate visas, and reforming salary thresholds and the Shortage Occupation List.’
ENDS
NOTES TO EDITORS
- Karl Williams is available for interview. For further information and media requests, please contact Emma Revell on 07931 698246 and [email protected] or Josh Coupland on 07912 485655 and [email protected]
- In May 2023, the Centre for Policy Studies modelled a number of scenarios to predict what net migration in 2022 could be, giving a range between 710,000 and 997,000. That analysis by CPS Deputy Research Director Karl Williams is available here.
- This evening Karl Williams will be chairing a panel in Parliament discussing the new data with Neil O’Brien MP, LSE’s Professor Alan Manning, the Telegraph’s Poppy Coburn, and Legatum Institute’s Fred de Fossard. Register here to attend.
- The Centre for Policy Studies is one of the oldest and most influential think tanks in Westminster. With a focus on taxation, economic growth, business, welfare, education, housing and green growth, its goal is to develop policies that widen enterprise, ownership and opportunity.
Date Added: Thursday 23rd November 2023
