Annual net migration to Britain remains at over 250,000 a year despite the declared ambition of the home secretary, Theresa May, to reduce it below 100,000 by the time of the next election, according to figures published on Thursday.
The Office of National Statistics said that the politically sensitive figure for net migration – the number of people coming to stay in the UK for longer than 12 months minus the number going to live abroad for more than 12 months – in the year to September 2011 was 252,000.
This is only 3,000 below the 255,000 recorded in the previous year to September 2010 and is a rise of 2,000 from the previous quarter's figure of 250,000 in the year to June 2011. » | Alan Travis, home affairs editor | Thursday, May 24, 2012
