"Keir Starmer's response to the 69% plunge in net migration revealed in official figures last week was to remark: That's a step in the right direction. Describing a reduction of more than two-thirds of any indicator in a single year as a step would be a creative use of statistics, putting it kindly. But on this most polarising of topics, and for the prime minister, whose job it is to shape public opinion, not cower before it"
"First, and contrary to Starmer's claim last year that Boris Johnson deliberately engaged in a one-nation experiment in open borders, Bell described the extraordinary increase in net migration that followed Brexit and the Covid pandemic as an accident. He cited three factors. First, the Homes for Ukraine scheme and the decision to allow Hong Kong citizens with British passports to come to the UK."
Net migration fell 69% from 649,000 to 204,000 in the year to June. Keir Starmer described the reduction as "a step in the right direction." Critics called that characterization detached from reality. Since Brexit, net migration has shown extreme volatility, with record rises followed by record declines. Brian Bell of the independent Migration Advisory Committee described the post‑Brexit and post‑Covid increase as accidental and identified contributing factors. Bell cited the Homes for Ukraine and Hong Kong schemes that added about 200,000 arrivals, and the decision by UK universities to enrol more foreign students amid inflation and a tuition‑fee freeze.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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