Keir Starmer appears to confuse net migration and immigration figures at PMQs

5 February 2025

At today’s Prime Minister’s Questions, the Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer claimed that the previous government “quadrupled immigration, reaching almost one million a year”.

We think the PM may have been intending to refer to net migration (the number of long-term immigrants to the UK minus the number of long-term emigrants) rather than immigration—we’ve contacted Number 10 to ask about this.

According to the Office for National Statistics, in the year ending June 2023 net migration was estimated to be 906,000. That’s the highest level since current comparable records began in 2012, and more than four times higher than in the year ending June 2019 (when it was estimated to be 224,000).

Meanwhile in the year ending June 2023, immigration was estimated to be 1,320,000—some way over a million. That’s also the highest level on record, but historic data shows estimated immigration did not “quadruple” under the Conservatives, either compared to when they entered office in 2010 or compared to any point during their time in office.

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