Blogs
We publish blogs that draw on data and research, and through them we inform debate, spark discussion, and explore the wider implications of current developments.
Analysis, Commentary and Research Updates
Explore our latest publications on immigration and asylum policies. Stay informed with well-researched insights.
Don’t Be Fooled – This Government Is Not In Control Of Illegal Immigration
The Home Office today (9th September) issued a press release titled, ‘For the first time, small boat migrants arriving in the UK face being detained and returned to France’. Promising title – but is it…
Learn More
Cutting Student Visas: Bringing Migration Under Control
The numbers speak for themselves. In 2024, student visas accounted for 45% of all UK entry visas issued – the single largest route for legal migration. This surge is no accident. In 2019, ministers set…
Learn More
Migration Is Changing Your Area – Just Look At These Numbers.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) released its official estimates for the population of England and Wales yesterday, and the results make for dire reading. Already the headlines are coming in thick and fast: “Migration fuels population…
Learn MoreA Shocking Year, Strewn With Failure. Pull Your Socks up or go!
It’s been exactly one year since Labour won the 2024 General Election. Given that “immigration and asylum” was the second-most important issue for voters at the time – and by far the most important issue for Conservative…
Learn MoreWar In Iran Will Only Make Britain’s Migration Crisis Worse
The regional fallouts of the conflict engulfing Iran are yet to reveal themselves, but one catastrophic consequence is definitely not in doubt: Britain’s migration crisis will further deepen. Iran is already the nation from which…
Learn MoreIs The Prime Minister’s Plan Working?
Can the government stop the boats? Speaking in Dover today, the Prime Minister gave an update on his pledge to stop small boats crossing the English Channel. Illegal crossings, he said, are down 20 per…
Learn MoreA Passage From India – Explaining The Unexpected Rise Of Indians Crossing The Channel
This week the government disclosed that in 2023 Indians have been the second largest group of people illegally crossing the English Channel in small boats, making up 18 per cent of all crossings. Although the increase…
Learn MoreFrom Baghdad To Bournemouth – Granting Refuge To Terrorists
It emerged in the Daily Mail recently that among those who illegally entered the UK in a dinghy last year were 19 suspected terrorists, several of whom are thought to have been members of the…
Learn MoreDoes Britain Think Immigration Is Too High?
Polling is central to modern politics. For governments, it is a means of testing public reaction to policies. More and more nowadays it is done with focus groups to test the popularity or otherwise of…
Learn MoreWhy Immigration Control Matters – The Views Of Three Thinkers
Summary The view that immigration should be reduced and controlled is often mischaracterised as a form of racism and xenophobia. However, there is a tradition of political thinking showing that controlling immigration is part of a necessary preservation of what makes society a continuous, united and functional whole. Rigid homogeneity
24,000 People Illegally Crossed The Channel This Year But Just Five Have Been Returned
There have just five removals in 2021 of illegal cross-Channel migrants to safe European countries. The news was revealed by a government minister under questioning by a Parliamentary Committee in November 2021. In the Summer of 2019, the-then new Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned illegal Channel immigrants not to come otherwise ‘we
What Do The Public Think About Illegal Channel Crossings?
55% of the public, including 77% of voters who backed the Tories at the last election, believe the Government’s approach to managing Channel crossings is “too soft”, according to a Redfield and Wilton Strategies poll published in late November 2021 (see report here). The news comes as November 2021 saw the highest number of
Home Secretary Dodges Question Of Whether Immigration Will Go Up Or Down
In November 2019 (before the most recent General Election), the Home Secretary pledged that immigration would come down as a result of planned reforms to the immigration system. See Times article – ‘Election 2019: We will reduce migration, pledges Patel‘, November 2019. Immigration by non-UK citizens has run at about 560,000 per year (2015-20),
Uk’s Eight Million Population Rise Drives Congestion, Gridlock And Declining Quality Of Life
The relentless expansion of the UK’s population is coming to a head as new figures from the ONS suggest that the country has reached the landmark level of 67 million. The British population has risen by around 430,000 each year since 2000, an amount equivalent to bringing in nearly the population
Experimental Official Research: Net Migration In Year To June 2020 Was 247,000
Migration statistics can be used to estimate the flow of migrants in and out of the UK and to estimate the number of migrants living in the UK (the stock). One estimate of the flow of migrants is the United Nations definition of a migrant; someone who moves to another