PM hails migration news as 'step in right direction'

THE fall in net migration to the lowest annual figure since 2021 has been described as a “step in the right direction” by the Prime Minister.

- ANAHITA HOSSEIN-POUR AND IAN JONES

Latest estimates published yesterday suggest the number dropped to 204,000 in the year to June 2025, down 69% year-on-year from 649,000, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

Net migration peaked at a record 944,000 in the year to March 2023 but has fallen sharply since then.

Net migration - the difference between the number of people moving to the country and the number leaving - has been on a downwards trend for the past two years.

Sir Keir Starmer welcomed the figures, while data published by the Home Office showed a rise in the number of asylum seekers housed in hotels and a new record high of people applying for asylum in the UK.

The Prime Minister said he was “determined” to close all asylum hotels as the UK Government has promised by the next election.

But of the latest net migration drop, he told GB News: “Under the last government we saw the Boriswave. He promised that net migration would come down, but it quadrupled to nearly one million.

“It's now down to 200,000 or so, and that’s a step in the right direction.”

An estimated 898,000 people immigrated to the UK in the year to June while 693,000 emigrated.