Data confirming a record surge in migration into the U.K. is expected to lay bare splits in the ruling Conservative Party and highlight the economy’s urgent demand for new workers.
The Office for National Statistics is poised to publish 2022 immigration figures on Thursday that are widely expected to exceed even the record 504,000 reported six months ago. That’s a political problem for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who is under pressure to deliver on a long-standing Tory promise to bring down the number of foreigners arriving in the U.K. each year — a central argument for Britain’s exit from the European Union.
While migration from the continent has gone into reverse, with freedom-of-movement rules ending in 2021, arrivals from elsewhere are soaring. Immigration is now down entirely to policies set during the Conservatives’ 13 years in power.
