The Japan Times - UK net migration halves in 2025 in boost for beleaguered Starmer

The number of non-EU citizens arriving for work-related reasons fell by 47 percent in 2025, which was "the main reason for the continued fall in net migration", the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.

Starmer -- and his predecessors -- have been under intense pressure to curb immigration after decades of growth and despite the 2016 Brexit vote and departure from the European Union four years later.

The drop in legal migration comes as the number of undocumented migrants arriving on UK shores in small boats after crossing the Channel dropped slightly since a high in 2022, though they remain in the tens of thousands, according to statistics released last month.

The issue is expected to feature prominently in a high-stakes by-election in northwest England next month that could determine Starmer's political fate, as potential leadership rival Andy Burnham bids to return to parliament.

The latest figures are the lowest since early 2021, during the Covid-19 pandemic, according to the ONS.

Starmer welcomed them, noting they showed a 82 percent fall over three years.

"I promised to restore control to our borders. My government is delivering," he wrote on X.

"I know there's more to do, we're introducing a skills-based migration system that rewards contribution and ends our reliance on cheap overseas workers," he said.

- Down from peak -

The falling numbers follow more stringent requirements for those applying for work visas introduced by the previous Conservative government and continued by Starmer.

The government has also tightened criteria in other areas such as students bringing dependents.

Starmer's Labour Party was elected in a landslide election victory in July 2024 after voters punished the Conservatives over a string of issues including soaring net migration.

Interior Minister Shabana Mahmood said the figures showed the government was controlling Britain's borders while insisting the country was still welcoming "those who contribute".

"Net migration is now at 171,000, down from a high of 944,000 under the Conservatives," she added on X.

The ONS estimated the 2025 figure for net migration -- the difference between the numbers of people arriving in the UK and those leaving -- was down from 331,000 at the end of 2024.

The population of the UK -- made up of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland -- currently stands at around 70 million.

The lower figures come after net legal migration ran at historically high levels for a number of years after Britain formally left the EU in January 2020, peaking at nearly one million (944,000) in the year to March 2023.

- Small boats -

Before their ouster the Conservatives toughened work visa rules, with Starmer announcing a further tightening last May.

But reducing small boat crossings remain a thorny challenge.

More than 200,000 migrants have arrived that way since records began in 2018, interior ministry statistics showed earlier this month.

Last year, a total of 41,472 migrants landed on England's southern shore after making the dangerous crossing from northern France -- an increase on the previous year, though down from a high of 45,774 in 2022.

The arrivals have seen support for the hard-right party Reform UK surge in recent local elections.

Separate figures issued by the interior ministry showed a 12 percent drop in people who claimed asylum in the UK in the year to March.

Some 94,000 people applied for asylum over that period, the figures showed.

S.Yamamoto--JT