Migrants could make up four in ten new households: Minister's forecast for the next two decades 

  • The figure is the equivalent of 109,000 extra households every year
  • The impact of mass immigration on the number of households in the UK was revealed in the House of Lords by Integration Minister Nicholas Bourne 
  • Based on the Government’s highest estimates for the number of new arrivals, over the next 22 years there will be up to 243,000 new households each year

Prime Minister Theresa May said regaining control of Britain’s borders will be a ‘red line’ in her negotiations with the EU over Brexit

Prime Minister Theresa May said regaining control of Britain’s borders will be a ‘red line’ in her negotiations with the EU over Brexit

Migrants could account for more than four in every ten households formed between now and 2039, a minister has warned.

The figure is the equivalent of 109,000 extra households every year.

The impact of mass immigration on the number of households in the UK was revealed in the House of Lords by Integration Minister Nicholas Bourne.

He said that, based on the Government’s highest estimates for the number of new arrivals, over the next 22 years there will be up to 243,000 new households each year.

Lord Bourne told the Lords that an estimated 45 per cent of the growth was down to net migration – the difference between the number of arrivals and the number leaving the country.

And Lord Green of Deddington, who is the chairman of think-tank MigrationWatch, said that the figures showed the ‘costs’ of immigration.

He told peers: ‘The difference between high and zero migration is 110,000 households being formed every year. That is 300 every day.

‘To put the point slightly more dramatically, that would mean building a home every five minutes, night and day, for new arrivals until such time as we get those numbers down.’

Prime Minister Theresa May has said that regaining control of Britain’s borders will be a ‘red line’ in her negotiations with the EU over Brexit.

However, Whitehall officials have also stressed that any new regime is likely to have to be phased in gradually.

Lord Bourne said: ‘Net migration will probably fall as a result of Brexit, but it will be some time before that happens.’

Official figures released in October revealed that record numbers of migrants came to the UK from the European Union in the run-up to last June’s referendum.

An unprecedented 284,000 arrived in the 12 months to July, with 82,000 of them looking for work.

The influx included 70,000 from Romania and Bulgaria, which was also an all-time high.

Net EU migration reached 189,000, a further peak, Office for National Statistics figures showed. At the time, Brexit Secretary David Davis told business leaders that significant numbers of migrant workers could still be allowed to come into Britain to cope with labour shortages.

The statistics raised new questions about the viability of the Government’s determination to get net migration down to the ‘tens of thousands’.

Nearly half of new employment over the year to the end of September, 49 per cent, was accounted for by workers from EU countries, the ONS said

Nearly half of new employment over the year to the end of September, 49 per cent, was accounted for by workers from EU countries, the ONS said

Net migration from outside the EU – over which the Government has full control – was 196,000, or almost double the overall target. That pushed the net global immigration figure to 335,000, which was just 1,000 short of the record.

Leave campaigners highlighted figures showing that 82,000 European Union immigrants arrived in the UK without a job, which was 43 per cent of the total – and the highest number ever recorded.

The number of national insurance registrations, which covered the period of the year ending in September, was 629,000 for EU citizens and 195,000 for non-EU citizens. The figures included 227,000 applications by Romanians and Bulgarians.

Nearly half of new employment over the year to the end of September, 49 per cent, was accounted for by workers from EU countries, the ONS said.

Nicola White, of the ONS, said in October: ‘The main reason people are coming to the UK is for work, and there has been a significant increase in people looking for work, particularly from the EU.

‘There does not however appear to have been any significant impact during the run-up to the vote.’

Recent figures have shown that more than a quarter of new babies in Britain are born to foreign mothers.