Asylum seekers make up almost half of net migration to Britain, new analysis has shown.
Official figures released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed net migration – the difference between the number of people moving long-term to the UK and the number leaving – dropped to 204,000 in the year to June.
The number is down more than two-thirds (69 per cent) from 649,000 in the year to June 2024 and is the lowest for any 12-month period since 2021.
But the number of asylum seekers being housed temporarily in UK hotels has risen by 13 per cent in three months, despite Labour’s pledge to shut migrant hotels.
The number of asylum seekers being temporarily housed in the UK has risen, according to new Home Office data
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REUTERS
The latest data from the Home Office found there were 36,273 people staying in such accommodation at the end of September while awaiting a decision on their asylum claims.
As fewer asylum seekers are leaving the UK in comparison to the number who are arriving, they now make up 44 per cent of the total net migration, according to analysis by Oxford University’s Migration Observatory.
The research centre stated: “The only major migration category where net migration did not decrease was asylum.
“Long-term immigration of asylum seekers was 96,000 in the year ending June 2025, making up 11 per cent of all immigration — double the five per cent share in 2019.
“Relatively few asylum migrants emigrate, so net migration of people seeking asylum was 90,000 in the same period, equivalent 44 per cent of total net migration.
“This share was also around double the pre-Brexit figure of 22 per cent in 2019.”
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