Migration figures for Wakefield since Brexit

Net migration to Wakefield has dropped since Brexit, official figures show.
Wakefield city centreWakefield city centre
Wakefield city centre

The Office for National Statistics estimates that from July 2015 to June 2016, the month of the EU referendum, 959 more long-term migrants arrived from abroad in Wakefield than left.

However in the 12 months after Brexit that figure dropped by 294.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

In total, 1,360 people moved to Wakefield from abroad and 695 left, leaving the latest net migration figure at 665.

That means Wakefield’s migrant population is still rising, but at a slower rate than before the referendum.

Fewer people are emigrating to Wakefield from abroad, while more are moving away.

While the Wakefield figures do not give details of where migrants came from, the latest national figures, for 2017-18, show EU migration is at its lowest level since 2012.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Madeleine Sumption, director of the Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford said: “The UK has clearly become a less attractive country for EU migrants since the referendum.

“The lower value of the pound means that workers coming here for higher wages are getting less than they were in the past, and economic conditions in many of the key EU countries of origin have improved a lot over the past few years.

“Uncertainty about the implications of Brexit may have played a role.”

Nicola Rogers, of the ONS’ Centre for Migration, said: “Today’s figures show that around 270,000 more people are coming to the UK than leaving, so net migration is continuing to add to the UK population.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“Net migration has been broadly stable since peak levels seen in 2015 and 2016.”

It is still well above the Government’s net migration target of 100,000.

Non-EU net migration to the UK is now almost three times higher than from the EU, the ONS says.

The figures also give details about GP registrations by migrants. From July 2015 to June 2016, 2,040 patients registered, compared with 1,839 patients in the 12 months after.