Net migration plummets to pre-pandemic low as more Brits flee

Net migration levels have radically fallen.

Net migration has fallen to a pre-pandemic low, official statistics have shown, as successive Tory and Labour governments have looked to tighten controls on visas.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has said net migration dropped to 204,000 in the year ending June 2025, around two-thirds lower than levels a year earlier.

The large fall came as fewer non-EU+ nationals arrived for work and study reasons. The ONS said there were 898,000 people arriving in the UK and 693,000 leaving the country.

It brings net migration down from a previous peak of 944,000 in the year to March 2023, which crystallised the issue of immigration in the eyes of Labour ministers, Westminster strategists and voters across the country.

Voters said reducing immig