Net migration to push population to 70m
Total set to be raised by nearly 10pc by 2026, which is 11 years earlier than predicted, says ONS
Net migration is set to drive the population to over 70 million by 2026, 11 years earlier than predicted, official figures show. The Office for National Statistics has estimated net migration will increase Britain’s population by nearly 10 per cent, or 6.1 million by mid-2036, the equivalent to a population of two and a half times the size of Greater Manchester. This would be a rise from 67 million to 73.7 million between mid-2021 and mid-2036.
NET migration is set to drive the population over 70 million by 2026, 11 years earlier than predicted, official figures show. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has estimated net migration will increase Britain’s population by nearly 10 per cent, or 6.1 million by mid 2026. That is equivalent to a population of two and a half times the size of Greater Manchester, spanning a rise from 67 million to 73.7 million between mid-2021 and mid 2026.
The ONS had previously estimated net migration – the difference between the numbers arriving and leaving the UK – would be around 245,000 but it now projects it will be 315,000 a year, 28 per cent higher. As a result, it has had to bring forward the date at which the UK population will pass 70 million from 2037 to 2026.
The forecasts blow apart the Government’s 2019 manifesto pledge which was to bring down the overall rate of net migration from its then level of 226,000.
James Cleverly yesterday announced the timetable for a package of measures to be introduced from March 11 with the aim of reducing net migration by 300,000, from its record of 745,000 in 2022. He admitted migration was too high. “We must get back to sustainable levels,” he said, adding that the package was “firm, but fair,” and gave the migrants affected “time to prepare whilst ensuring that migration comes down”.
He also announced that the UK and France would go “further and faster” under its £480 million deal to stop the boats, with extra aerial surveillance by drones and planes to be fast-tracked and nearly half of the 500 Uk-funded officers already deployed on French beaches.
It comes as ministers are preparing for the migrant crisis to last at least another three years under plans to retain an RAF base to house asylum seekers until 2027.
The Home Office is proposing to continue to use a former RAF base in Essex as an accommodation centre for up to 1,700 migrants entering the UK illegally over the next three years. RAF Wethersfield, near Braintree, has been used to house hundreds of Channel migrants but its current planning permission is due to run out in April, forcing the Home Office to seek a special development order to retain the site for another three years.
Former immigration minister Robert Jenrick warned that the surge in immigration was “not how you create a united country” and that the projected annual rise of 315,000 would “only deepen the housing crisis”. “There is no democratic consent for this outcome. The pace of change is far too fast. The power to change this, and set us on course for far more sustainable numbers, is in parliament’s hands,” he said. Former home secretary Suella Braverman said the migration figures were “too high,” placing pressure on schools, NHS and housing. She called for a cap on migrants.
Population growth is now increasing at more than double the rate in the latter part of the 20th century.
It took roughly 55 years – from 1950 to 2005 – for the UK population to increase from 50 million to 60 million. It will take just over 20 years from 2005 to 2026 to rise from 60 million to 70 million.