PMQs: Sunak and Starmer clash over migration

Campaigners fear the future of Britain is at stake unless ­migration is slashed to at least 100,000 a year.

The grim warning comes after official figures showed net migration is now at 606,000.

Migration Watch UK, which has launched a drive to reduce the total by 85 percent, said: “Mass, uncontrolled immigration is putting huge pressures on public services, housing and the environment.

“It is also changing the nature of our society. If we don’t act now, it will be too late.”

The think-tank said forecasts showed the UK population could rise to 83 million by 2046, with projections indicating a need to build more than six million extra homes to meet demand. The current population is 67 million.

The Government’s target to build 300,000 homes a year – an ambition that has never been reached – would not be able to supply demand.

The figures come 13 years after former prime minister David Cameron promised to slash net migration to under 100,000. In 2013-14 the figure hit 243,000.

Migration has now increased the population by nearly seven million over the past 20 years.

There has been scepticism surrounding the official figures, compiled and published by the Office for National Statistics.

Experts have pointed to the fact the public was told only around 3.5 million would apply to remain in the UK under the EU settlement scheme. The actual figure was said to be 7.2 million.

Migration Watch UK chairman Alp Mehmet, 74, who arrived in the UK from Cyprus in 1956 unable to speak English but rose to be appointed Britain’s ambassador to Iceland in 2004, said: “We really are standing on the edge of the cliff.

“The Prime Minister has ­abandoned any effort to cut immigration from these stratospheric levels. So we will now campaign for the public to sign a petition calling for net migration to be cut to less than 100,000 a year. This will be an opportunity for the public to express their concern about the fundamental changes to the nature of Britain.”

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On Sunday night, almost 40,000 people had signed the petition.

Albanian migrants to the UK are unlikely to be at risk in their own country or require asylum, a cross-party group of MPs found.

But more needs to be done to support the Albanian victims of people smuggling, especially women, the home affairs select committee said.

In a report published on Monday, the committee says there was no clear basis for the UK to accept thousands of asylum applications from Albanian citizens.

It comes after data revealed more than a quarter of the 45,755 people who crossed the English Channel in small boats in 2022 were Albanian.

Committee chair Dame Diana Johnson MP said: “Such a substantial sudden increase in asylum claims from a seemingly peaceful country understandably raised concerns.”

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