Net migration figure plunges to 171,000

UK net migration dropped to an estimated 171,000 last year, the lowest level since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

- PRESS ASSOCIATION REPORTERS

The figures for the 12 months to December are down 48% compared with the previous year (331,000), according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

It is the first time the estimate - which is the difference between the number of people arriving and leaving the country - has fallen below 200,000 since the start of the Covid-19 outbreak.

In the year to March 2021 it stood at 132,000, at a time when travel restrictions were still in place to contain the virus and the post-Brexit immigration system had been introduced.

The continued fall in net migration is being driven by fewer people from outside the EU arriving in the UK for work, the ONS said.

Some 813,000 people are estimated to have arrived in the UK in 2025, while 642,000 are likely to have left.