Migration levels hit record high last year, figures reveal as pressure mounts on Rishi Sunak to crack down | The Sun

NET migration last year hit a record high of 606,000, shocking figures out today show.

The stats come as Rishi Sunak faces huge pressure from MPs and the public to get a grip on the number of foreigners coming over.

In what's been described as a bizarre move, the PM will respond to the figures on the This Morning sofa.

Alison Hammond and Craig Doyle will grill him on the important topic.

The Tories vowed to cut migration in the party's 2019 general election manifesto.

Today they've been accused of letting Brits down through an addiction to cheap foreign labour.

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Devon MP Anthony Mangnall told The Sun: "Importing a workforce at the expense of training our citizens misses the the chance to create good, high-paying, long-lasting jobs."

Swathes of low-skilled migrants and hundreds of thousands of students have put immense pressure on public services such as the NHS.

The huge numbers also put a strangle hold on Britain's crippled housing market.

In 2019 net migration stood at 226,000.

This rose to half a million in the 12 months to June 2022, before ballooning even further to today's record high.

Senior Tory Sir John Hayes raged: “You can’t grow your population at 700,000 a year.

"Where on earth are you going to house these people?”

Ahead of today's figures Suella Braverman this week announced a package of measures to cut immigration.

Foreign students on Masters courses will no longer be allowed to bring partners or family members with them to the UK.

But PHD students, who tend to be older, will still be able to.

Last year almost 500,000 people were granted student visas, while the number of dependants increased by 750% since 2019 to 136,000.

The Home Office say student visas account for the largest proportion of migration to the UK.

Officials will also clampdown on "unscrupulous" education agents.

Some organisations have been accused of supporting student visas for migrants who are really just using the route as a backdoor to find work.

The ONS, who publish migration stats, say today's significant stat rise was partly driven by "unprecedented world events", including war in Ukraine, the end of lockdown, the resettlement of Afghan refugees, a new visa route for British nationals from Hong Kong and students arriving from outside the EU.

Labour today slammed the Tories for having "lost control" of Britain's borders.

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Shadow Immigration Minister Stephen Kinnock told LBC: "They have failed to have a strategy in place for our local labour market, and as a result of that, employers are being forced to reach for overseas immigration.

"We need a much more balanced approach, ensuring that we have the immigration we need of course, but that there's much more opportunity for skills, productivity training, workforce planning to get our economy firing on all cylinders again."

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