The foreign-born population of Britain has grown by an estimated 370,000 since the census was conducted last year, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) revealed on Thursday.
As a result of the record waves of foreigners entering the country — both legally and illegally — the non-UK born population of England and Wales has already jumped from the 10,018,000 figure recorded in the 2021 Census to an estimated 10,388,000. The ONS said that the foreign population is comprised of 3,545,000 migrants born in the EU born and 6,854,000 born outside of the bloc.
The updated figure came as the government statisticians revealed that net migration — the number of arrivals minus those who left the country — rose to a record high in the year leading up to June, hitting 504,000.
Though the country has been governed for over a decade by the Conservative Party, which promised to reduce net migration in the 2010, 2015, 2017, and 2019 elections, the annual influx has nearly doubled the heights seen under the Tony Blair administration in the early 2000s.
The open borders agenda of Tories has seen the foreign-born population rise from around 7.5 million in 2011 to 10,388,000 now, representing a near-three million increase over just a decade.
To put this in perspective, the population of all Scotland, including migrants, is estimated at just 5.47 million, while for the still smaller Home Nations of Wales and Nothern Ireland the estimates are under 3,2 million and less than 2 million, respectively.
Though the massive uptick in net migration was seen under Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s administration — in large part due to his points-based immigration system — the numbers will still likely prove damaging to Rishi Sunak, who was Johnson’s finance minister for most of his tenure and is essentially continuing Johnson’s policy of deliberately increasing legal mass migration.
In order to appease members within his own party who do not support this agenda, Sunak is reportedly looking to cut the number of visas granted per year to students, a proposal favoured by Home Secretary and immigration hardliner Suella Braverman MP.
“I think we have too many students coming into this country, who are propping up sub-standard courses in inadequate institutions, and I think poor universities are being bankrolled by foreign students,” the Home Secretary said in October.
A Downing Street spokesman said on Friday that the government will look to put an end to foreign students coming to the United Kingdom to obtain “low quality” degrees while bringing in dependents with them through chain migration — however, the government has yet to define what would constitute a “low quality” degree.
According to a report from The Times of London, the government is also placing limits on the numbers of foreign student admissions to top universities and cutting the number of visas granted to student family members.
The plan will likely see pushback from the anti-Brexit globalist in charge of the Treasury, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt, who has said that it will be necessary to keep immigration high in order spur economic growth.
While such a strategy would increase the overall GDP of the country, it would do little to better the lives of people per capita. Indeed, as migration continued to rise over the past decade, wages have remained largely stagnant in real terms and housing costs have gone through the roof, with mass migration negatively impacting supply and demand in both areas.
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