UK net migration nearly halves due to tighter policies

LONDON, May ​21 (Reuters) - Long-term net migration to Britain nearly halved in 2025, falling to levels last seen before the post-Brexit ​immigration ‌system was introduced,as tougher government measures enacted in recent years restricted the number of arrivals.

The Office for National ⁠Statistics said on Thursday that net migration fell to ⁠171,000 in the 12 months to ​the end of December from 331,000 a year earlier, extending a sharp decline from a record peak of 944,000 in 2023.

Immigration - both legal and illegal - has dominated political debate in Britain for ​over a ‌decade, with successive governments imposing stricter visa rules and higher salary thresholds, while the current government has pledged to go further.

The ONS said long-term net migration was now close to the level it was at before the new immigration system was introduced at the start of ​2021, when Britain transitioned out of European Union membership, and when COVID restrictions were still ‌in place.

The drop reflect policy changes implemented from 2024, when the previous Conservative government banned most international students from bringing dependants and raised ‌salary thresholds for skilled worker visas.

The current Labour government has tightened policies further as it seeks to counter Nigel Farage's populist Reform UK party, which campaigns on an anti-migration platform and holds ​a double-digit lead in opinion polls.

To that end, the government last year moved to end overseas recruitment of care ‌workers, the single biggest driver of work migration in recent years, and raised the salary threshold for skilled worker visas further.

It has since announced more sweeping reforms, including plans to speed up ⁠deportations ⁠of those arriving illegally and double the qualifying period for some ‌workers to obtain settled status to ten years, as well as making refugee status temporary.

"This government is restoring ​order and control to ​our borders," interior minister Shabana Mahmood said on social media after ‌the figures were published.

The British Future think tank said the country was "experiencing one of the sharpest falls in net migration on record", but that most people believed the opposite, according to its research. (Reporting by Muvija M, editing by Andy Bruce)