Seven million immigrants are now working in Britain, filling one in every five jobs, figures show.
Since the start of the Covid pandemic, 1.4 million non-EU workers arrived in Britain while the number of EU-born workers fell by 230,000 to 2.2 million, according to figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
Estimates from the ONS last year suggested that total net migration was 685,000, substantially higher than pre-pandemic levels of 200,000 to 300,000.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has pledged to bring down net migration and reduce Britain’s reliance on overseas workers.
The Labour Government’s Skills England body has been tasked with helping UK regions boost workforce skills to reduce the country’s reliance on workers from overseas.
Alp Mehment of Migration Watch told The Sun jobs in the UK are still open to foreign workers and Labour won’t do anything about it.
Robert Bates from the Centre for Migration Control told the same publication it is too easy for businesses to shirk their obligations to Brits and simply hire cheap labour from overseas.
He warned this would need to change if the country wants to build an economy based on high skills and high wages.
The Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford expects net migration to fall from this year onwards regardless of the change in government and any policy changes.
Experts at the body say this is because former international students are emigrating after a boom in arrivals between 2021 and 2023.
Visa restrictions introduced by the Conservative government are also likely to reduce immigration this year, according to The Migration Observatory.
Figures published after former prime minister Rishi Sunak called the general election showed a net figure of 685,000 arrived in Britain in 2023 down from a record of 764,000 the year before.
This was three times the figure in 2019 and a huge rise compared to 2012 when net migration was a little under 200,000.
Under Labour’s plans, sectors such as healthcare and construction will have to devise workforce plans to reduce reliance on overseas workers.
Employers that are found to have broken employment law will also be banned from hiring workers from abroad. The Government has also pledged to end the exploitation of overseas workers.
