Our island’s population continues to soar. In the year to June 2024, the numbers living in England and Wales rose by more than 700,000 – almost all because of immigration. The previous year saw an even bigger jump of 821,000.
Despite a fall in net migration from 833,700 to 690,100, the past two years were the highest since records began in 1949. So far this century, the English population has grown by almost 13 million.
Such a scale of demographic change is unprecedented and unsustainable. Never before has migration, rather than natural growth, been responsible for 98 per cent of the rise in population.
The sheer numbers are staggering, but the pressures on our infrastructure, public services and accommodation are hugely compounded by the impossibility of integrating so many migrants from utterly different cultural backgrounds.
The biggest single challenge is housing. Angela Rayner, the minister responsible, talks constantly about cutting red tape and setting targets for housebuilding. But her plans are dwarfed by this influx of migrants, few of whom are interested in living far from London and the South East.
While this Labour Government sacrifices the hard-won control of our borders by unpicking Brexit, our green and pleasant land is being transformed before our eyes. Unless drastic steps are taken urgently, no environmental policy can protect rural and urban communities from being overwhelmed.
While net migration is forecast to fall sharply over the next few years, the population statistics do not include millions of transient migrants, tourists and other visitors, all of whom add to the strain on housing, health and other services.
Britain is proud to be an open society that welcomes outsiders, but we have long since reached our limits as far as accommodating permanent residents is concerned.
A microcosm of the problem is the London borough of Newham. Last year, it saw an increase in population of 4.7 per cent, the largest in England.
For one of the poorest areas of London to absorb so many migrants in a single year is impossible without catastrophic consequences. It is no accident that Newham has among the highest rates of welfare dependency, violent crime, theft and drug abuse in the capital.
Unless we want the whole country to resemble Newham, our leaders need to get a grip on illegal as well as legal immigration. Alas, England expects that every minister will fail to do their duty.
