Immigration to the United Kingdom (UK) has surged to over 1.1 million people – the highest since records began in 2002 – under the far-left “Conservative” Party, despite successive governments promising to reduce the number for more than a decade.
Statistics published by the Department for Work and Pensions on Thursday revealed that the number of people registering for a national insurance number – the right to work and pay taxes in the UK – between June 2022 and 2023 has increased by over 300,000 compared to the year before, in which it was around 880,000. European Union citizens accounted for 130,000 registrations, compared to the roughly 960,000 registrations from the rest of the world.
The British government issued 538,887 work visas, an increase of 63 percent compared to the previous year, and 657,208 study visas, representing an increase of 34 percent. All must register for a national insurance number upon arrival in the UK.
Just under 100,000 asylum claims were made in the same year, though only 40,386 were from those entering the UK by boats traversing the English Channel. The majority of claims come from those arriving through illicit means, such as in lorries, shipping containers, and fraudulent documents, according to the British Home Office. The total number of pending asylum claims also increased by 35 percent to 134,046.
Despite the staggering number of visas issued, Rishi Sunak’s Conservatives have continued to demand more immigration over the past few months, citing worker shortages in industries such as agriculture.
