Fewer asylum seekers and immigrants arrive in UK

The Guardian – The number of new asylum seekers coming to Britain has plummeted by 30% in the past year and the flow of central and east European migrants, including from Poland, has also continued to decline, according to the 2009 immigration figures published today.

However, the Office of National Statistics said there was little change in the pattern of long-term migration to Britain with 518,000 people coming to the UK to live, work or study in the year to June 2009 and 370,000 leaving to live abroad.

This gives a net migration figure of 147,000 for the year to June 2009 — a decline from the net migration figure of 168,000 the previous year and further undermining claims that Britain’s population will hit 70 million by 2029.

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