Indians overtaken as EU nationals in UK top 3 million for first time
Poles have overtaken Indians
to become the UK’s biggest immigrant group after 11 years of large-scale
migration since Poland joined the European Union.
The changing face of Britain
was laid bare yesterday in official migration figures which showed that the
number of EU citizens living in the UK topped three million for the first time
last year. The data also underlines the scale of the challenge facing Theresa
May to curb new arrivals from the EU after Brexit.
Total net migration — the
difference between those coming to the UK and those leaving for more than a
year — dipped slightly from 336,000 to 327,000 last year, including 180,000 who
came from the EU, according to the Office for National Statistics. Officials
said the fall was not statistically significant and the figure remains more
than three times the government target of 100,000.
As Labour prime minister, Tony
Blair opened the door to incomers from eastern European states as soon as the
countries joined the EU in 2004. The arrival of almost three quarters of a
million Poles since then took the total to 831,000 last year — more than the
population of Cracow — and beyond the 795,000 British residents born in India.
Historically migrants from Ireland
formed the largest foreign-born population in Britain, remaining in top place
from 1951 until 2003 when India overtook. In 1951 Poland was in second place
before dropping down the list.
Madeleine Sumption, director
of the Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford, said: “Traditionally
the UK’s relationship with Ireland and the former colonies have been key
factors in shaping its migrant population. In recent years the EU has played a similar
role.”
Applications for UK
citizenship by people from EU countries rose before the Brexit referendum.
The numbers coming from
Romania and Bulgaria — at 69,000 — drew level with the 68,000 from Poland and
the seven other eastern European states for the first time, the new figures
show.
Dariusz Laska, chargé
d’affaires at the Polish embassy in London, said: “Britain was the refuge of
the Polish government in exile and free Poles during the Second World War and
the time of communism.
“The Polish community is a
mixture of the descendants of those wartime and anti-communist exiles and those
who decided to move to the UK after Poland joined the EU, who all equally
contribute to Britain’s culture, society, and economy. Poles pride themselves
in having the highest rate of individuals in employment or further education
among all ethnic groups in Britain, at 92 per cent. Poles have also opened more
than 22,000 businesses and create new workplaces. Higher wages rather than
social security are the primary motivation for 84 per cent of Poles migrating
to the UK.”
Mrs May has vowed that curbing
net migration will be her “absolute priority” during Brexit negotiations,
though she has stopped short of promising to end the free movement of EU
citizens.
The government is looking to
reduce non-EU immigration among students, workers and those coming to join
family members.
Some 303,000 came to the UK to
work last year, the ONS figures show — the second highest on record, though
fewer than six in ten had a definite job. Student numbers were at the lowest
level in nine years.
Lord Green of Deddington,
chairman of Migration Watch UK, said: “Clearly there are massive incentives to
come to Britain. No doubt this was all very much in the public’s mind on
referendum day.”
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