| • | Net migration into the UK has averaged 166,000 a year over the last 7 years. [1] |
| • | The UK’s population is projected to rise by 7.2 million from 2004 to 2031 – 6.0 million (83%) of this rise is due to immigration.[2] That’s equivalent to a two cities the size of Cambridge every year, or 6 cities the size of Birmingham over the 27 year period, needing to be built because of immigration.[3] |
| • | 59,000 new homes will be required in England each year for the next 17 years for immigrants.[4] |
| • | In 2004 12.0 million non-EU nationals arrived in the UK[5]. How many left? No one knows – we have no embarkation controls. |
| • | In Inner London 57% of all births are to foreign-born mothers. [6] |
| • | 70% of net international migration is to London. In recent years a net 100,000 migrants a year have been arriving in London and there has been a net movement of 100,000 existing residents from London to the rest of the UK.[7] |
| • | The cost of running the Immigration and Nationality Department of the Home Office rose from £300 million in 1998-1999 to 1.9 billion in 2003-4.[8] Legal aid costs of £170m a year are additional. |
| • | England is one of the most densely populated countries in the world. It has nearly twice the population density of Germany, 4 times that of France and 12 times that of the USA. |
| • | Since 1997 about 376,000 asylum seekers have been refused permission to stay here but only 85,000 have been recorded as having been removed from the UK. [9] |
| • | And those with families whose claims have failed continue to receive benefits worth an average of £15,000 a year tax free.[10] |
03 January 2006
NOTES:
| [1] | ONS: International Migration Series MN no. 30 and News Release 20 October 2005 |
| [2] | Comparison of Government Actuary’s 2004-based principal and natural change population projections. See http://www.gad.gov.uk/population/2004/methodology/mignote.htm |
| [3] | The population of Birmingham is 977,000 and Cambridge’s population is 109,000 according to the 2001 census. |
| [4] | Lords Hansard 8 Dec 2004 Column WA39 – this is based on net migration and other changes of 99,000 a year for England |
| [5] | Home Office: Control Of immigration: Statistics 2004 |
| [6] | ONS Birth Statistics 2004 – Series FM no.33 |
| [7] | ONS – Internal and International Migration. |
| [8] | Home Office Departmental Report 2003-4 Section 6 Finance and Staffing |
| [9] | Home Office Asylum Statistics 1997-2004 and Q3, 2005. Figures exclude dependants. |
| [10] | Home Office Press Release 295/2003 24.10.2003 – ‘Moving even 1,000 [families] off support will save £15 million in support costs in addition to any potential savings on legal aid’ |
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