Fire during Leeds Riot

How Immigration has affected the UK

Immigration over the years

During Tony Blair’s premiership between 1997 and 2007, immigration rose 76% to 574 thousand. At the time this seemed like a shocking amount, however, these figures pale in comparison to that of the 2019 to 2024 Conservative government.  

Tony Blair at Labour Conference in 2006. Image belongs to Copyright Holder. Image from –  The Guardian/Peter Byrne

One of the Conservatives’ key pledges in 2019 was to reduce net migration below 100 100,000 and to introduce an Australian-style points-based immigration system. The Australian system selects labor migrants based on their qualifications, language proficiency, occupation, and work experience.  
Migrants with more desirable economic characteristics, like being in a highly specialised and desired occupation, are more likely to be awarded visas. As a result, Australia is only meant to be letting in people who will benefit the economy greatly. However, this does not account for illegal immigrants, family migrants, students, and refugees. 

In 2020 the UK implemented the points-based policy, after leaving the EU. During 2020, net migration (the number of people coming into the UK – the number of people leaving) decreased by 50% to 93,000, although this can be attributed to global COVID-19 lockdowns and travel restrictions. 2 years after the policy implementation, the UK saw the highest ever numbers of people immigrating. In 2022, 1.23 million people immigrated to the UK legally, with a total net migration of 745 thousand. The total number of people immigrating to the UK has increased by 310% since 1997. 

A boat packed with people crossing the UK Channel. Image belongs to Copyright Holder. Image from – PA

Illegal migration has also soared under the 2019 Conservative government, going from 4 thousand small boat crossings to 50 thousand in 2023. Due to illegal immigrants being hard to gather data on, the number of small boat crossings is the primary reliable source of numbers. Boat capacity can range from a couple of people to 70 people. These boats aren’t meant to handle more than 30 people, but migrant traffickers typically pack people onto these boats to reduce their costs. 

Statistics from the year ending March 2024, there were 28 thousand deportations from the UK, with 7 thousand being enforced. During Tony Blair’s premiership, in the early 2000s, there were 16 thousands enforced removals. 

What has been affected?

Immigration has proved to be a vital lifeline for the UK economy, as migrants fill voids in the workforce, often left by Brits entering medical leave, Brits trapped in or exploiting the benefits system, and those emigrating the country.  

Britain’s population has risen by 10 million since 2000, with 60% of this population increase contributed to by net migration. Prolonged high legal migration has resulted in shifting the political voting in many areas. The ethnic/religious changes in these areas led to the election of 5 independent candidates in the UK’s House of Commons, as candidates stood on pro-Gaza platforms, to attract the Muslim vote. 

British Muslims have often been a reliable vote for Labour, however as of recently, Labour’s Muslim vote has collapsed due to Labour’s stance on the Gaza war. As a result, independent candidates and the Workers Party of Britain were able to beat Labour in a few constituencies, due to a high Muslim population. Currently, there are 4 million Muslims in the UK, comprising 6% of the UK’s population. It is likely that by the 2029 general election, there will be a new party formed, specifically targeting British Muslims, and advocating for Islam in the UK, due to the appeal of these independent candidates, who have campaigned on similar issues. 

House prices have been spiraling out of affordability for the past 30 years, with this in part due to an influx of large migrant families, non-essential migration, not enough houses being built, and a population increasing by 10 million since 2000. 

Image belongs to Copyright Holder. Image from – Getty Images/Matt Cardy

In 2000, the average price of a house adjusted for inflation was £130,000. Whereas in 2022, it reached £260,000, and increase of 100%.

“Over the past 70 years the average UK house price has risen by 365%, even on an inflation adjusted basis.” – Savills UK


The UK has a total housing deficit of approximately 300,000 homes. This means that the rate at which people enter the country is higher than that of homes being built. To solve this problem, you would either increase the number of homes being built or decrease the number of immigrants entering the UK. 

Throughout the UK, public services are strained and over-run, partly due to the population growing too fast for services to accommodate the increase.  
18% of Secondary Schools are at or over capacity in the UK.
Over the past 30 years, the number of beds in the NHS has halved, and occupancy rates for these beds are at 92%.

Immigrations effect on crime

Finally, as more undocumented people enter the country illegally, it is expected that there will be more crime and ethnic/religious/racial violence as people bring their cultural beliefs to the UK, which other groups may disagree with and respond to with violence.

For example, riots broke out in Leeds after 4 Roma children were taken by social services and the police. The children are not British Nationals, but a tip-off to the police told them they were leaving the country for Romania or Cyprus. The children could not leave the country without a court’s permission, as the children had been improperly cared for by their previous family. What ensued was a riot involving 2000 people, the burning of a bus as well as multiple fires being started, and the arrest of 20 individuals.  

Image belongs to Copyright Holder. Image from – @robin_singh via REUTERS

The majority of illegal immigrants are single men who are economic migrants. Illegal immigrants pay £5000 to go from Albania to the UK, whereas traveling legally from the UK to Albania costs as little as £40. They would not be able to claim asylum or enter the country if they attempted to enter the UK legally, which is why they pay huge sums of money to get here. 

Immigration has been Britain’s lifeline since the end of World War 2, with migrants making admirable contributions to British Society, but a minority of migrants who have malicious intent for their stay in the UK jeopardizes our national security and threatens the safety of everybody in the UK. 


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All Images belong to Copyright Holders.

Cover Image – @robin_singh via REUTERS