SUNAK'S ALL AT SEA

Immigration at record high, up to 606,000 | Labour: PM's broken pledge, lost all control

- BEN GLAZE and LIZZY BUCHAN

RISHI Sunak was accused of having "no grip on immigration" yesterday as net migration to the UK hit a record high.

Labour's blast came as official figures showed 606,000 more people came to the UK than left last year, despite Conservative pledges to slash numbers.

Net migration the difference between the number of people moving to the UK and those leaving - has soared from 488,000 in 2021 and is up from 504,000 in the 12 months to last June.

Some 114,000 people arrived from war-torn Ukraine along with 52,000 Hongkongers on British nationals overseas visas, following China's brutal crackdown, the Office for National Statistics said.

A total of 1.2 million people arrived last year compared with 557,000 leaving. Most arrivals were non-EU nationals - 925,000 followed by EU citizens at 151,000.

The rest - 88,000 - were British people coming back.

Shadow Immigration Minister Stephen Kinnock said the Tories have "lost control of the issue".

He added: "They have failed to have a strategy for our local labour market. Employers are being forced to reach for immigration.

"We need a much more balanced approach, ensuring we have the immigration we need, but that there's much more opportunity for skills, productivity training and workforce planning."

The PM denied losing control of the system, but told ITV's This Morning: "Numbers are too high, it's as simple as that, and I want to bring them down."

Migration Watch chairman Alp Mehmet said: "The PM has abandoned any effort to cut immigration from stratospheric levels." In their 2010, 2015 and 2017 election manifestos, Tories vowed to cut net migration below 100,000.

They abandoned the pledge in 2019, committing to making sure "overall numbers" fall. At the time, net migration stood at 226,000.