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| UK net migration remains close to record levels | UK net migration remains close to record levels |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Net migration to the UK was 327,000 for the year to March, according to Office for National Statistics estimates. | Net migration to the UK was 327,000 for the year to March, according to Office for National Statistics estimates. |
| The figures - for the period before Britain voted to leave the EU - are down slightly on record levels. | |
| Net migration is the difference between the number of people coming to the UK for at least a year and those leaving. | Net migration is the difference between the number of people coming to the UK for at least a year and those leaving. |
| Separate figures from the ONS show Poland is now the most common non-UK country of birth for people in the UK, overtaking India for the first time. | |
| 'New high' | |
| Net migration from Romania and Bulgaria has hit a record level of 61,000 - but the figures show a reduction in net migration from Poland and the seven other countries that joined the EU in 2004, from 51,000 a year earlier to 40,000. | |
| Nicola White, ONS Head of International Migration Statistics, said: "Net migration remains at record levels although the recent trend is broadly flat. | Nicola White, ONS Head of International Migration Statistics, said: "Net migration remains at record levels although the recent trend is broadly flat. |
| "The influx of Romanians and Bulgarians has also reached a new high, although that's off-set by falls in non-EU immigration and from other central and eastern European countries. | "The influx of Romanians and Bulgarians has also reached a new high, although that's off-set by falls in non-EU immigration and from other central and eastern European countries. |
| "Work remains the main reason for migration, followed by study which has seen a significant fall in the number of people coming to the UK for education. | "Work remains the main reason for migration, followed by study which has seen a significant fall in the number of people coming to the UK for education. |
| "It's important to remember that these figures only go up to the end of March and do not cover the period following the UK's vote to leave the European Union." | "It's important to remember that these figures only go up to the end of March and do not cover the period following the UK's vote to leave the European Union." |
| Estimates for the year to March show a slight fall, of 9,000, compared with the previous 12 months, and also 7,000 lower than the level recorded for the year to December. | |
| Work permits | |
| More than 25% of births in England and Wales in 2015 were to women born outside the UK, the highest level on record. | |
| Commenting on the live birth figures, ONS statistician Elizabeth McLaren said: "The rising percentage of births to women born outside the UK is largely due to foreign born women making up an increasing share of the female population of childbearing age in England and Wales. | |
| "Part of the reason for this is that migrants are more likely to be working-age adults rather than children or older people. Alongside their increasing share of the population, higher fertility among women born outside the UK has also had an impact." | |
| The figures come as Sir David Metcalf, the government's chief adviser on immigration controls, suggested Prime Minister Theresa May is considering introducing work permits for low skilled migrants from the EU. | |
| Sir David, head of the Migration Advisory Committee, told the Telegraph the scheme would be "pretty straightforward" to run and could be based on a previous work permit system for seasonal agricultural workers. | Sir David, head of the Migration Advisory Committee, told the Telegraph the scheme would be "pretty straightforward" to run and could be based on a previous work permit system for seasonal agricultural workers. |
| He said: "The agricultural scheme was terrifically well administered, it was one guy at the Home Office working with operators and farmers. | He said: "The agricultural scheme was terrifically well administered, it was one guy at the Home Office working with operators and farmers. |
| "It was time limited and capped. We could think of similar sectors where you have got a lot of unskilled European labour. That's very much tied up with what the prime minster is interested in." | "It was time limited and capped. We could think of similar sectors where you have got a lot of unskilled European labour. That's very much tied up with what the prime minster is interested in." |
| Mrs May came under fire when she was home secretary for failing to meet the government's target of getting annual net migration below 100,000. | Mrs May came under fire when she was home secretary for failing to meet the government's target of getting annual net migration below 100,000. |
| She has said that reducing net migration will be her "absolute priority" in Brexit negotiations. | She has said that reducing net migration will be her "absolute priority" in Brexit negotiations. |
| A report by think tank British Future, released ahead of the latest figures, said the vote to leave the EU was a chance to fix the UK's "broken" immigration system and restore trust in controlled migration. |