UK migration soars to record high despite Tory Brexit promises

LONDON — Net migration to the U.K. has hit a new record high of 672,000, four years after the Conservatives pledged to cut it to a third of that level.

The latest figures, published by the Office for National Statistics on Thursday morning, show a significant increase on what was already a record-high of 602,000 people back in May.

The latest release — covering the 12 months to June 2023 — piles further pressure on Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who has promised to drastically decrease the numbers of people moving to the U.K. each year.

Slashing legal migration was a key pledge in the Conservatives’ last election manifesto, with the party promising that “overall numbers” of migrants would come down from their 2019 level of about 226,000 people a year. Instead numbers have trebled over the course of this parliament.

Sunak is already under intense pressure over a separate migration issue — the numbers of undocumented migrants arriving across the English Channel. Sunak’s plan to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda was ruled illegal by the U.K. Supreme Court last week.

With Tory backbenchers furious at both failures, some reports suggest the PM will set out new proposals on migration next week.

“We want to get migration down. We have a very clear story to tell on that,” a Downing Street official not authorized to speak on the record told the London Playbook newsletter.