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Immigration into Britain at all-time high

Xinhua, December 1, 2016 Adjust font size:

The number of people migrating into Britain in the year ending June 2016 reached 650,000, the highest estate recorded, said the Office for National Statistics (ONS) in its latest report Thursday.

The figure was up 11,000 compared to the corresponding figure for the year to June 2015, the ONS said.

When the number leaving the country is added to the calculation, the net migration figure is 335,000, including a net migration of 189,000 people from EU countries.

Nicola White, Head of International Migration Statistics at the ONS, said: "Net migration remains around record levels, but it is stable compared with recent years. Immigration levels are now among the highest estimates recorded."

"The inflow of EU citizens is also at historically high levels and similar to the inflow of non-EU citizens. There were also increases in the number of asylum seekers and refugees."

According to White, the main reason people are coming to the Britain is for work, and there has been a significant increase in people looking for work, particularly people from EU countries.

The high level of immigration into Britain was cited as one of the main reasons for British people voting to leave the EU in the June 23 referendum.

Supporters of Brexit said they voted to leave the EU to enable Britain to regain control of its borders. Under EU's free movement rules, nationals of EU countries are free to travel to any part of the union's 28 members. Endi