UK Edition
More refugees have come to the UK since Brexit than at any time since the Second World War, according to a new report.
Around 437,000 people, mainly from Ukraine and Hong Kong, have been granted protection by the Government on humanitarian grounds since the start of 2021 when the transition period ended.
The number, disclosed in research by the UK in a Changing Europe and the Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford, surpasses a previous surge in the immediate aftermath of the war when as many as 250,000 Poles arrived in Britain.
Peter Walsh, of the Migration Observatory, said: “Since then, we certainly don't have any kind of movement on this scale.”
Ukrainians fleeing Putin’s brutal war make up close to half of those being granted protection, at 217,000.
Hong Kongers being given visas under a scheme launched after China imposed a strict national security law on the territory are the second largest group, at 154,000.
Meanwhile, around 24,000 people such as Afghans fleeing the Taliban takeover were resettled in the UK and another 11,000 were granted protection as part of family reunions.
People being successfully granted asylum, such as those arriving on small boats, made up a relatively small part of the total at 31,000.
Rishi Sunak plans to deter small boat attempts by removing clandestine arrivals within 28 days and banning them from returning or applying for British citizenship.
Mr Walsh said: “There’s a real tension in the protection policy.
“On the one hand, you have a real tightening of the system. But then because of these bespoke humanitarian routes, and specifically Ukraine and Hong Kong, well, that actually reflects this quite big liberalisation.”
The report also found that public attitudes to immigration have become much more positive since Brexit, even as a record number of immigrants arrived in the year to June.
It said immigration levels will likely remain high for the foreseeable future.
Meanwhile, work-related migration has fallen sharply in low-paid industries as a result of Brexit, the report said. This has created labour shortages but so far there is little evidence of it pushing up pay.