Blow to Cameron as immigration soars from Romania and Bulgaria

Some 583,000 people immigrated to the UK in the year ending June, the Office of National Statistics (ONS) said, a “statistically significant increase” from the 502,000 in the previous 12 months.

The rise was driven by increases in immigration from the European Union, which was up 45,000 and outside the EU, which was up 30,000, statisticians said.

Net migration to the UK - the difference between those arriving and leaving - was 260,000 in the period, up from 182,000 in the previous 12 months, as 323,000 people emigrated from the country.

The figures come after Home Secretary Theresa May conceded that flows from the EU had disrupted efforts to reduce the net annual figure to below 100,000 and it was ‘’unlikely’’ the target would be reached by the end of this parliament.

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said the Conservatives’ failure to meet their target for reducing net migration - which the Liberal Democrats have always opposed in Government - would undermine public confidence in the immigration system.

“This was a Conservative preoccupation. They made that promise. They have now broken that promise and they will have to suffer the embarrassment of having done so,” he said on his weekly LBC radio phone-in.

“I think that it does damage public confidence in the immigration system by over-promising and under-delivering in this way.”

Another “statistically significant increase” in Romanian and Bulgarian citizens arriving in the UK was flagged by statisticians in the period, rising to 32,000 from 18,000 in the previous year.

Romanian citizens had the highest number of National Insurance number registrations in the year to September - 104,000 - followed by Polish citizens at 98,000, the ONS said.

Total National Insurance number registrations to foreign nationals increased by 12% to 668,000 in the same period, the figures showed.

A rise in immigration from outside the EU, up 30,000 to 272,000, was in part driven by an increase in family and friends arriving to join others, the ONS said, which was up 19,000 to 54,000.

Dr Carlos Vargas-Silva, acting director of the Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford, said: “The Government’s own data showed in 2011 that their policies were not expected to reduce immigration by enough to hit the target.

“So we have been watching a result that we have expected for three years unfold in slow motion.

“Increased EU net migration has certainly meant that the degree by which the target is missed will be much higher, but it is clear that the target would have been missed with or without this increase, as non-EU net migration alone is way over 100,000.”

Sunder Katwala, director of British Future, which commissioned an ICM poll that showed less than a third - or 27% - of people trust the Home Secretary when she talks about immigration, said: “There’s no point in the Government making out that immigration is going in the direction they want it to.

“The net migration target is dead and buried.

“The question is what happens next, why this has happened and what the Government is going to do about it.”

Net migration is 16,000 higher than it was in the year to June 2010 when the coalition Government came into power, when it was 244,000 - this is the first time in three years that net migration is higher than when the Government came into power.

The headline figure was last higher in the year to June 2011 when it was 263,000.

Immigration and Security Minister James Brokenshire said: “Uncontrolled, mass immigration makes it difficult to maintain social cohesion, puts pressure on public services and forces down wages.

“Our reforms have cut net migration from outside the EU by nearly a quarter since 2010 - close to levels not seen since the late 1990s.

“This Government has shut nearly 800 bogus colleges, slashed 45,000 visas from the further education route and cut family visas by nearly a third since it came to power - meaning there are 50,000 fewer migrants coming to the country from outside the EU than there were in 2010.

“Our reforms have also made it more difficult for EU migrants to claim benefits in the UK and, through the landmark Immigration Act, made it tougher for illegal immigrants to remain by restricting access to work, housing, benefits, healthcare, bank accounts and driving licences.

“We are building an immigration system that is fair to British citizens and legitimate migrants and tough on those who flout the rules. But clearly there is still more to do.

“And that is why the Prime Minister will shortly be setting out how we intend to reform the freedom of movement in the EU that is driving the rise in immigration to the UK.”