Reform UK has furiously hit out at the Labour Government for the UK immigration surge, claiming they are continuing with “one of the biggest policy failures in modern British history”.
A total of 746,000 new “permanent-type” migrants settled in the UK last year according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). This is a huge jump of 488,400 from the year before.
Reform UK’s deputy leader Richard Tice has hit out at the new “damning” report claiming that mass migration is “making us poorer”.
He says: “For 14 years the Tories promised us action on immigration and instead all we were left with was the highest numbers on record,
“This latest report is a damning indictment of fourteen years of Tory rule. Mass immigration has made us all poorer and has damaged social cohesion.
“Quite simply, this has been one of the biggest policy failures in modern British history. Now the OBR have predicted what we have all known, Labour will not put an end to mass immigration and will continue with this failed Tory experiment.
“Only Reform are serious about ending mass immigration and controlling our borders once and for all.”
Data from the OECD shows how Britain experienced the biggest surge in immigration of any rich country in 2023. The 52.9% year-on-year rise in the new arrivals has risen above other OECD countries, with only South Korea coming close to these figures.
The report also shows how the UK had the second-highest number of immigrants, with only the US welcoming more people than Britain last year.
Nigel Farage’s party is now piling the pressure on Sir Keir Starmer to take a different approach to how their opposition handled the last 14 years while in power.
“Permenat-type” immigration, by the OECD’s definition, includes workers and their relatives. This does not take into account students or refugees from Ukraine – they are considered temporary residents.
The new data shows Britain issuing more student visas than any other OECD nation, with almost 450,000 applications approved last year.
The OECD said “family migration soared, with 373,000 new family migrants in 2023, a 60pc increase compared to 2022. Seventy per cent of family migrants in the United Kingdom were accompanying family members of labour migrants.”
The report added: “The health and care visa for accompanying family members accounted for the bulk of the increase.”
