EU migration is hiking UK population numbers

ACCORDING to the UK Office of National statistics, the difference between people arriving into the UK and people leaving has been the second highest on record this year, with up to 10,000 more people arriving than leaving.

It is estimated that approximately 184,000 new residents have entered from the EU in the last 12 months, with annual net migration hitting 333,000.

The figures have been released just weeks before the Brexit referendum and may have an impact on the results; the number is nearly triple Prime Minister David Cameron’s expected maximum of 100,000.

Boris Johnson, former Mayor of London, has spoken out against Cameron, Home Secretary Theresa May and George Osborne, accusing them of betraying public trust.

Johnson, who is in favour of Brexit, believes leaving the EU would assist in controlling the migration situation. He has stated, ‘Last year (2015), 270,000 people came to this country from the EU and net migration was 184,000. That means we are adding a population the size of Oxford to the UK every year just from EU migration.’ 

Furthermore, since 2004, an alleged 1.25 million people joined the population of the UK from the EU, which is larger than the population of the city of Birmingham.

Nevertheless, Johnson has confirmed that he is pro-immigration, due to the diverse wealth of culture and knowledge that it brings to Britain, providing that it is controlled immigration, as large numbers put huge pressures on housing, hospitals and schools. 

General migration, not exclusively from the EU, is expected to produce a population increase of four million in England alone by 2024.

The ex-mayor has found himself on the wrong side of European Commission president Jean-Claude Junker, who invited Johnson to Brussels for re-education after a scandal which saw him compare the EU to Hitler. The commissioner meanwhile has commented that ‘the atmosphere would be better’ should Britain remain in the UK.