Anyone trying to make sense of our immigration figures all too often enters a looking-glass world populated by spin doctors adept at trumpeting success and masking failure.
By ROSS CLARK and RHODRI MORGAN, DATA JOURNALIST Published: 17:22 BST, 5 June 2026 | Updated: 18:03 BST, 5 June 2026 View comments
Deep Dive
Share or comment on this article:
Think you understand Britain's migration crisis? You've never seen it put like this. DEEP DIVE with ROSS CLARK
What's your view?
Britain's immigration debate focuses on deportation promises, but poor data collection and unreliable records could undermine any…
Immigration narrative is being used to justify the errors of generations of politicians
Britain is set for a population decline and some sectors are going to find it particularly difficult to find workers
Make access to welfare, social housing and NHS treatment contingent on residency as well as citizenship
...while the headline figure looks impressive, that is still a considerable decline in British nationals - down a net figure of…
Official figures indicate net migration is falling, yet concern among Britons is close to the highest it has been since polling…
