Downing St ‘trying to bury’ bombshell migration report

DOWNING Street was last night accused of trying to bury bad news – ahead of a bombshell report expected to show migration figures have been under-counted for years.

The study is intended to explain why 1.3million more National Insurance numbers have been given out to EU citizens than are accounted for in official statistics.

Experts predict the number of incomers could be 50,000 more than are recorded every year.

MPs and ministers attacked Number Ten, suggesting the Office for National Statistics report’s publication had been deliberately brought forward to today when it will clash with a major Government statement to the Commons on the future of the BBC and the fight against Islamic State in Syria.

It was originally was due to be published at the end of the month – only a month from the EU referendum. Number Ten has been rattled by its failure to take a commanding lead in the battle over Britain’s EU membership. Last night Boris Johnson said politicians had ‘misled’ the British public over the true scale of mass immigration from the EU.

Speaking of the timing of the report’s publication, one minister told the Daily Mail: ‘The ONS should never allow itself to be used like this in what has to be a totally political way.’

Tory MP Anne Main said: ‘The Government is doing its level best to hold back as much negative information on the

We will be told the real number of EU migrants From the Mail, April 4

referendum as possible. Even when asking fairly simple questions, backbenchers are finding that there are delays, or the answers are vague and unsatisfactory – if our questions are even being answered at all.’

Former Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith said: ‘I have always been in favour of full disclosure on immigration, which is why I unreservedly welcome the publication of this data.’

Speaking at the launch of the Leave campaign’s road campaign, Mr Johnson said there had been a huge rise in immi-

New cover-up fears over the true total of EU migrants March 14

gration ‘without consent’ from the public. He said politicians had been driven to ‘dishonesty’ because they did not want to admit they cannot control immigration while Britain is inside the EU.

His comments will be seen as a further swipe at David Cameron’s failure to meet his longstanding target to reduce net migration to below 100,000 a year. Mr Johnson went on: ‘It has been misleading, there is no question. Politicians have been driven into this dishonesty about it by the EU’s arrangements.’ He added: ‘Pol- iticians, if they’re going to have a pro-migration policy, should take responsibility for it, stand up and explain why they want hundreds of thousands as opposed to tens of thousands and then say it.’

A row has been raging over the true scale of EU immigration since the Government refused Freedom of Information requests at the end of last year. Figures from the ONS – which are supposed to count the numbers coming into the country – show some 919,000 EU migrants have arrived since June 2010. But in the same period officials have issued 2.2million NI numbers to EU migrants.

MPs say the gap suggests huge numbers of incomers may have been missed by the ONS – leaving officials in the dark about the true scale of the pressure being placed on hospitals and schools.

In a sustained campaign, backed by the Mail, Brexit campaigners and economists have called for the release of the ‘active’ NI numbers, which means those which are currently being used to claim benefits or pay taxes.

After resisting for months, HMRC agreed last month to pass the information to the ONS, which originally planned to release it on May 26.

Last month, a study by Migrationwatch predicted net migration from inside the EU was around 50,000-a-year higher than official statistics admit.

Number Ten denied being involved in the timing of the release. A spokesman said: ‘It’s their publication. The ONS decide on when the publish it.’

NI numbers hint migrant total could be far higher February 26