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More than 600,000 people migrated into Britain in 2015:ONS report

Xinhua, May 26, 2016 Adjust font size:

Figures published here Thursday by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show the number of people migrating into Britain in 2015 was more than twice the number who left the country.

The figures reveal that 630,000 people arrived in Britain during the year, and 297,000 left, giving a net migration figure of 330,000.

The figures were immediately pounced on by both the former mayor of London, Boris Johnson and the leader of Britain's party, UKIP.

UKIP's Nigel Farrage said today's figures demonstrate that immigration is "out of control", saying "mass immigration is still hopelessly out of control and set to get worse if we remain inside the EU."

Johnson said in a statement today: "Last year, 270,000 people came to this country from the EU and net migration was 184,000. That means we are adding a population the size of Oxford to the UK every year just from EU migration.

"Since 2004, 1.25 million people have been added to the population due to EU migration. That is bigger than the city of Birmingham," said he.

"People have every right to question why we can't control our borders. We need to answer those concerns by taking back control of those borders."

He added, "But we must also face the fact that the system has spun out of control. We cannot control the numbers. We cannot control the terms on which people come and how we remove those who abuse our hospitality. This puts huge pressure on schools, hospitals and housing. If you vote IN on June 23, you are kissing goodbye permanently to control of immigration."

The number of people arriving in Britain was virtually the same as in 2014, with the number leaving last year 22,000 less than in 2014.

ONS said the decrease in emigration was driven by a fall in the number of British citizens emigrating.

The estimated number of EU citizens coming to Britain in 2015 was 270,000, compared with 264,000 the previous year.

ONS said more than 300,000 people came to Britain in 2015 for work, an increase of 30,000 from the previous year and the highest estimate on record. Of those, 178,000 (58 percent) had a definite job to go to and 130,000 (42 percent) arrived looking for work.

Latest figures showed there are 2.1 million EU nationals (excluding British people) employed in Britain, a quarter of a million higher than a year earlier.

ONS figures also showed that during 2015, long-term immigration into Britain for study was estimated to be 167,000, compared with 191,000 in 2014.

Immigration Minister James Brokenshire said Prime Minister David Cameron's renegotiation of Britain's membership of the EU would "close back-door routes" into Britain.

ONS net figures are reached by looking at people arriving and staying for at least a year, and deducting the numbers leaving Britain. Endit