A History of Immigration to the UK

Evidence of the first humans present in modern-day Britain is dated to the end of the last Ice Age.

It is believed that a land bridge between Europe and Britain allowed the first humans to arrive between 700,000-950,000 years ago. Hundreds of thousands of years later, the first Homo sapiens are believed to have arrived between approximately 38,000-42,000 BCE.

Roman Expeditions and Occupation

Since then, the now-island has witnessed several groups arriving on its shores. In both 55 BCE and 54 BCE, Julius Caesar led expeditions to Britain. Nearly a century later, Emperor Claudius ordered a full invasion of the island in 43 AD. By the start of the fourth century AD, University of Cambridge Archeology Professor Martin Millet estimates that, of a population of 3.6 million, 125,000 consisted of Roman military, family, and dependents.

Post-Roman Migrations: Angles, Saxons, and Jutes

Following their departure from the island in 410 AD, a number of Angles, Saxons, and Jutes from modern Germany and Denmark settled in the fifth century AD. To what extent this occurred is somewhat debated. Scholars have traditionally claimed this period consisted of mass migration and ethnic replacement, although some suggest a smaller number of Germanic settlers who instead gained power over the local population.

Viking Invasions and Influence

During the coming centuries, Britain experienced waves of conflict, invasion and integration from the Vikings of Scandinavia, including the "Great Heathen Army" of 865 AD and the four Viking Kings of England between 1013-42. Once again, arguments concerning the scale of Scandinavian migration are disputed. In 2020, a joint study between the University of Copenhagen and the University of Cambridge concluded that today's U.K. population has up to 6% Viking DNA.

Britain experienced its last successful invasion in 1066 by the Duke of Normandy, William the Conqueror.

Despite the societal and cultural changes that followed, evidence from the 1086 Domesday Book suggests that those who migrated across the Channel were a minority of landed Barons and Lords. Norman England did, however, see the first arrival of Jewish settlers, although they were later expelled in 1290.

Religious Refugees

Between the mid-16th century and the early 17th century, Britain saw Christian Protestants fleeing persecution. Thousands of Walloons of south-east Belgium arrived during the 1560s, while tens of thousands of Huguenots from southern France (from whom the English term "refugee" was coined) arrived after St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre of 1572 and the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685.

Approximately 13,000 Palatines from west Germany also came to England in 1709, establishing what has been regarded as Britain's first refugee camp in Blackheath, London.

Early Modern Migrations and Forced Movements

Between the 17th and 19th centuries, Britain's role in the transatlantic slave trade saw the forced movement of over three million African slaves. This brought up to 20,000 people of African descent to Britain itself by the late 18th century. Between 1845-49, Ireland experienced a famine that killed approximately one million people, leading to hundreds of thousands of people crossing to Britain, while after 1880, 120,000–150,000 Jewish immigrants fled to Britain from Russia and Eastern Europe.

As of 1901, census data shows the population of England and Wales was recorded at nearly 32.5 million people, of which nearly 475,000 — or 1.5% — were foreign born (including British colonies and dependencies).

In 1905, the U.K. government passed the Aliens Act. This was the first legislative policy aimed at restricting immigration — creating the power to expel and prevent the landing of "undesirable immigrants," while still allowing the entry of refugees.

By 1911, of the 36.1 million people in England and Wales, nearly 900,000 (1.5%) were foreign-born excluding colonies or dependencies. Census data shows that the largest proportion of foreign-born individuals came from Russia (71,000), followed by Germany (65,000), the United States (40,000), France (39,000), Poland (37,000) and Italy (22,000).

First World War

Following the declaration of war in 1914, the government passed two pieces of legislation, the first being the Aliens Restriction Act. This text allowed for the Privy Council, a formal body of advisers, to deport, prevent entry, restrict the movement of aliens and register aliens during conflict or an occasion of "imminent moral danger or great emergency."

The U.K.'s second piece of legislation, the British Nationality and Status of Aliens Act, was passed two days later. This limited the automatic passing on of nationality to one generation abroad through the father. Meanwhile, it allowed aliens to naturalize if they had resided within British territory for five years or had worked for the state for five of the last eight years, were of "good character" with "adequate knowledge of the English language” and intended to live within British territory or continue to work for the state.

During the conflict, Britain saw approximately 250,000 refugees enter the country, with 95% being Belgian. In 1918, the British Nationality and Status of Aliens Act was amended. This allowed British subject status to children born abroad whose fathers were British and had served in the Crown Service at the time of birth. The Secretary of State's powers to revoke naturalization were also expanded, including where an individual was "not conducive to the public good."

Following the end of the First World War, the powers of the Aliens Restriction Act were extended and expanded to peacetime within a 1919 amendment, restricting employment rights and the ability for aliens to change names.

By 1921, the foreign-born population had decreased to 750,000 in a population of nearly 37.9 million, or 2%, of which over 228,000 "did not claim specifically to be of British nationality" by birth, marriage, or naturalization. Of these non-British claimants, the largest groups were once again Russians (49,000) and Polish nationals (36,000), followed by Americans and Italians (19,000 each), as well as Germans (12,000).

These populations were predominantly concentrated in London, particularly in areas near seaports. While 1921 also saw the end of the Irish War of Independence, the Irish population in the U.K. or England and Wales is not generally considered within immigration data.

British Nationality and Status of Aliens Act Expansion

In 1922, the the British Nationality and Status of Aliens Act was expanded to end the one-generation limit on passing nationality by descent within Dominions, allowing indefinite transmission if births were registered at a British consulate within a year and confirmed at age 21, though children born 1915–1922 were excluded.

The decline in immigration was, however, short-lived. In 1931, of a population of 39.9 million nearly 1.1 million were foreign born in England and Wales, or 2.7%. Foreign nationals in the U.K. were once again led by Europeans and Americans.

In 1933, women were protected from automatically losing nationality on marrying a foreign man unless they gained his citizenship, and foreign wives of newly naturalized men acquired British status by declaration.

Second World War

Due to the Second World War, no census took place in 1941. However, 1939 did see the establishment of the National Register which maintained data collection until the next census of 1951. It is believed that approximately 80,000 people — mostly Jews — found refuge in Britain from Nazi Germany in the build up to war, although official channels for migration from Germany were restricted once conflict began.

In 1943, inheritance was clarified for posthumous children, consular birth registration became retroactive without time limits and registration rights were extended to children of British fathers by descent.

The British Nationality Act 1948 redefined British nationality by creating the status of Citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies (CUKC).

From that date, British subjects became either CUKCs or citizens of independent Commonwealth states, with CUKCs allowed the consequent right to live and work freely in the U.K. The Act detailed how CUKC could be acquired by birth, descent, or prior status. With decolonization, independence acts withdrew CUKC where new nationalities were created, but safeguards ensured no one became stateless and preserved status for those with close ties to the U.K.

The 1951 census shows that the foreign-born population of England and Wales had increased to nearly 1.9 million, or 4.3%. Nearly 84,000 had become British subjects by birth or descent, and over 180,000 had become British subjects by naturalization, registration or marriage.

Europe accounted for the vast majority of these residents at nearly 525,000, once again led by Polish and Russians, while nearly 33,000 had arrived from Asia. Britain's Commonwealth-born population had also grown to nearly 245,000, alongside a population of nearly 75,000 from colonies and protectorates such as Cyprus and Malta, then-Malaya and Hong Kong, as well as the Caribbean.

Policy Changes

Immigration policy was guided by the British Nationality Act 1948 for fourteen years. By 1961, the foreign-born population of England and Wales reached nearly 2.3 million, or 5%. Data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) shows that the Irish-born population of England and Wales increased by 39% to 683,000, followed by a growing Indian-born population of 157,000. while its Caribbean-born population increased from over 15,000 people to 172,000 – including a 6,000 to 100,000 increase in Jamaican-born residents.

In 1962, the Commonwealth Immigrants Act was passed, bringing an end to the automatic right of entry granted to Commonwealth citizens under the British Nationality Act 1948. The Act introduced a conditional voucher system for those seeking work and allowed authorities to refuse entry or deport CUKCs convicted of offenses punishable by imprisonment. In 1968, the Act was amended to restrict the right of entry to CUKCs who were born, adopted, registered, or naturalized in the U.K., or who had a parent or grandparent who met those conditions.

By 1971, England and Wales's foreign-born population had reached 3.1 million, or 6.4%.

Although the Irish-born population stayed largely static, the Indian-born population nearly doubled to 313,000, while the Pakistani-born population more than quadrupled from 31,000 to 136,000. The Kenyan-born population rose from 6,000 to 58,000, while the Jamaican-born population saw a 71% increase to 171,000. In contrast, nationalities such as Poland and Russia saw a notable post-war population decline during this period, with Polish-born residents decreasing by approximately 33% between 1951-71.

Immigration Act

The same year, the Immigration Act was passed, amending and replacing all previous immigration legislation. The law introduced the "right of abode," giving British citizens and certain Commonwealth citizens with close family ties the unrestricted right to live in the U.K. Others were subject to immigration control, requiring permission to enter or stay.

The Act also created the concept of "patriality," granting status to those born in the U.K., descended from U.K.-born parents or grandparents, or settled after years of legal residence. For non-patrials, entry was managed through work permits or indefinite leave to remain. The Act also ended the automatic right of Commonwealth citizens to enter the U.K., bringing them under the same system as non-Commonwealth nationals.

Following an overhaul of the immigration system, data shows the rate of migration between 1971-81 to have slowed compared to previous decades. By 1981, of a population of 48.5 million, 3.2 million were foreign-born, or 6.6% – an increase of approximately 120,000, or 0.2%. This represented the slowest growth in the foreign-born population since 1911-21.

By 1981, Pakistani-born residents (182,000) had overtaken a now-declining Jamaican-born population (164,000) as the second-largest non-U.K. country of birth in England and Wales (excluding Ireland), while the Indian-born population had risen to 383,000. Though the German-born population continued to increase (170,000), the Polish-born population sat at 88,000 — nearly half of its 1951 size —while the Russian-born population had fallen entirely out of the top ten non-U.K. countries of birth.

Further notable increases include a near-doubling of the Kenyan population from 58,000 to 100,000, a 270% increase in the Uganda-born population to 45,000 following the Armin regime’s expulsion of Asian Ugandans, and the Zimbabwean population doubling to 15,000 during the country’s war of independence.

British Nationality Act

Having entered government in 1979, the Thatcher government passed the British Nationality Act 1981, which came into effect from 1983. The law replaced the single CUKC status with three separate citizenships: British citizenship, for those closely connected to the UK; British Dependent Territories citizenship, for those connected to U.K. dependencies; and British Overseas citizenship, for former citizens who didn't qualify for the previous two.

The act ensured no one lost their citizenship status during the transition. It also redefined the term "British subject" to apply only to specific groups and maintained the existing status of British protected persons. Following the Falklands War between Argentina and the U.K. in 1982, the British Nationality (Falkland Islands Act) 1983 was passed to extend British citizenship to residents of the territory.

Despite these measures, 1991 census data shows that, in a population of 49.9 million, the number of foreign-born residents in England and Wales had grown to over 3.6 million, or 7.3%. Indian (400,000), Pakistani (225,000) and German-born (202,000) populations continued to grow, with Jamaican-born (142,000) residents continuing to decline. The period of 1981-91 also saw a noticeable increase in Bangladeshi-born residents, rising from 48,000 to 104,000, a 118% increase, while U.S.-born residents grew from 106,000 to 131,000.

In 1992 the U.K., a member of the European Economic Community since 1973, signed the Maastricht Treaty.

This ultimately established the modern-day European Union (EU), introducing common economic, foreign and security policy, a Single Market, and freedom of movement. Freedom of movement allowed EU citizens and their family the right to move and reside freely within the European bloc, including both to and from the U.K.

Changing Asylum Policy

In 1993, the Asylum and Immigration and Appeals Act was passed. This established an appeals process for those who desired to contest their asylum rejection, mandated fingerprinting of asylum seekers and granted the right for asylum seekers to local authority financed housing.

In 1996, the Asylum and Immigration Act was passed. This increased search and arrest powers, gave the Secretary of State the power to "white list" countries as safe (and therefore invalidating asylum claims), introduced fines of £5,000 (£10,000 in 2025) for employers of illegal immigrants and removed housing and child benefits for asylum seekers until their claims were approved. This act was amended in 1999 to introduce penalties for those transporting illegal immigrants into the U.K. and to require asylum seekers to list all grounds of appeal at once.

By 2001, in a population of 52.5 million, 4.6 million were foreign-born in England and Wales, or 7.3%. Indian (456,000), Pakistani (308,000), German (244,000), and Bangladeshi-born (153,000) populations continued to represent the largest foreign-born communities.

Meanwhile, South African-born residents jumped by 108% from 64,000 to 132,000 following the end of Apartheid, while Zimbabwean-born residents increased by 136% to 49,000 following political and ethnic repression under former Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe.

Immigration Policy in the 2000s

In 2002, the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act was passed. This replaced the asylum seeker voucher system with cash payments, created refugee integration programs and asylum seeker accommodation centers. The term "detention center" was replaced with "removal center," and registration cards were introduced for asylum seekers.

In 2004, the Asylum and Immigration Act was amended, allowing arrest without a warrant for asylum seekers unable to produce asylum documentation, and electronic tagging for individuals under residence restrictions were introduced.

In 2006, the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act was passed. This redefined an asylum claim as "a claim made by a person that to remove him from or require him to leave the United Kingdom would breach the United Kingdom's obligations under the Refugee Convention," and prohibited those detained in removal centers from being eligible for the national minimum wage.

In 2007, the U.K. Borders Act introduced biometric registration as a requirement to enter the U.K., while 2008 saw the introduction of a points-based immigration system containing five tiers: highly skilled workers, sponsored workers, low-skilled workers, students, and special categories for temporary migrants.

In 2009, the Borders, Citizens and Immigration Act was passed. This increased the minimum residency for naturalization to eight years, and required a “high qualifying immigration status” and to not have left the U.K. for more than 90 days.

By 2011, of a population of 56 million in England and Wales, 7.5 million were foreign-born, or 13.4%.

This 5.4 point growth was the largest growth in foreign-born residents in census history, and was twice as large as the next biggest increase. Indian-born residents, already the largest non-Irish foreign-born population, grew by 52% to reach 694,000. The Pakistani-born population grew by 56% to 482,000, the Bangladeshi-born population grew by 39% to 212,000 and the Nigerian-born population also grew by 120% to 191,000.

However, the most notable rise in the foreign-born population came following Poland's accession into the EU in 2004, and thereby allowing freedom of movement to the U.K. From 2001 to 2011, the Polish-born population in England and Wales grew by 898% from 58,000 to 579,000 — making it the second-largest non-Irish foreign-born population.

England and Wales also saw notable increases from other Eastern European countries who entered the EU in the 2000s. The Hungarian-born population grew by 59% to 29,000, the Latvian-born population grew 66% to 36,000, the Lithuanian-born population grew by 65% to 63,000 and the Slovakian-born population grew by 75% to 43,000.

Immigration Policy in the 2010s

During the first half of the 2010s, the U.K.'s immigration trend continued. Between 2010-2015, net migration sat at an average of +257,000, with 75% of the average 275,000 annually migrating to the U.K. (206,000) being from EU member states.

Between 2010-11, the government applied further restrictions on entry visas, including an annual limit on non-EU economic migrants and the closure of the highly skilled workers visa category to new applicants, which had allowed migrants to come to the U.K. before they had secured a job offer.

In 2014, the government passed the Immigration Act. The government limited immigration appeals, introduced "deport first, appeal later," strengthened checks on sham marriages, required landlords to verify tenants' status, restricted irregular migrants' access to licenses and bank accounts and imposed a health surcharge on temporary migrants.

Beginning in February 2011, YouGov’s polling of the most important issues facing the U.K. shows immigration to have consistently sat as the country's self-perceived second-biggest problem after the post-financial crisis economy until mid-2014, when it overtook the economy to become the most important issue.

Brexit Referendum

In February 2016, David Cameron called a referendum on the U.K.'s future in the EU. Later that year, the country voted to leave the bloc by a 52%-48% margin. Subsequent polling and analysis has found that immigration sat alongside sovereignty as the two central reasons behind choosing to vote leave.

In 2016, the government further amended the Immigration Act. It criminalized illegal working and imposed tougher penalties on employers, required landlords to check tenants' status and restricted access to services such as driving licenses and bank accounts. Immigration officers were granted broader search and closure powers, while appeal rights were reduced and stricter bail conditions introduced. The act also mandated reviews of detention with safeguards for vulnerable detainees.

Post-Referendum Shifts

Between 2016-2019, net migration saw moderate decline in comparison to the first half of the decade as the U.K. negotiated its withdrawal from the EU. Between 2016-2020, net migration averaged 229,000, a 17% decline, of which EU nations represented 52% of migrants, down 23 points from 2010-15. Each year between 2016-2019, the proportion of EU migrants declined, falling from 74% to 30% of those entering the U.K.

In 2020, net migration declined to 93,000, of which 41% of total U.K. migrants were from the EU, with travel affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Policies were implemented such as 14-day self-isolation for visitors arriving from locations deemed high-risk while, according to the National Audit Office (NAO), people travelling to the U.K. by air in April 2020 sat at 1% of the same figure twelve months prior.

Following an agreement reached in December 2019, the U.K. left the EU on Jan. 31, 2020 with a transition period ending 11 months later.

From January 2021, the U.K. introduced a "new points-based immigration system."

Measures included the replacement of the Tier 2 general work visa, which made up 59% of work-related visas in 2019 with a skilled worker visa. This reduced skill requirements for sponsorship from high-skilled (undergraduate degree) to medium-skilled (A-level or equivalent), lowered the minimum salary from £30,000 to £25,600 or, in some cases, £20,480, widened the eligibility criteria, removed the Resident Market Test requirement, suspended the visa quota cap, and removed the requirement for jobs to be advertised in the U.K. first.

The "cooling off" period restricting visa holders from returning to the U.K. for 12 months after expiration was also removed, while there was no limitation on length of stay, compared to a previous limitation of six years. Like the Tier 2 visa, the new skilled worker visa allowed spouses, civil partners, unmarried partners of over two years and dependent children under 18 to come to the U.K.

A separate Health and Care visa was also implemented for professionals seeking to work in the NHS, replicating eligibility requirements for the skilled worker visa with the exception of fast-tracked processing and reduced application and surcharge fees.

Whilst the rules prohibited lower-skilled workers from receiving visas under the new system, social care and seasonal horticulture workers were exempted. Leaving the EU also meant that the U.K. was no longer part of the Dublin Regulation, which allowed asylum seekers to be returned to the first country of arrival in the EU.

Shifting Demographics

In 2021, England and Wales undertook its next census. Of a population of 59.6 million, 10 million were foreign-born, or 16.8%. India remained the largest foreign-born country of origin at 920,000, up 33% from 2011 and now representing 1.5% of the entire population of England and Wales — the same proportion of all foreign-born residents in 1911. This was followed by 743,000 Polish-born residents, up 28% from a decade prior; and 624,000 Pakistani-born residents, up 29%. Italian-born residents saw a 106% increase between 2011-2021, rising to 277,000, while Romanian-born residents saw a 576% increase from 80,000 to 459,000.

Under the new points-based system, immigration to the U.K. increased. Between 2021-2024, net migration per year averaged at 662,000, around triple the average of the previous decade, with approximately 80% of the over 1.1 million migrating to the U.K. a year on average were non-EU citizens.

According to the U.K. government's independent Migration Advisory Committee (MAC), the "unusually high" increase in immigration within this period can largely be attributed to an increase in international students and immigration through the skilled worker route. Granted work visas increased from 150,000 in 2021 to 498,000 in 2023, while student visas increased from 435,000 to 604,000. Of these figures, nearly 147,000 visas were granted for student dependents, nearly nine times higher than 2019, and nearly 278,000 visas were granted to skilled worker dependents — around five times higher than 2019.

Sunak-Era Revisions

In 2023, the Rishi Sunak government announced a series of changes to visa requirements that would come into effect from March to April 2024. This increased the baseline salary required for the skilled worker visa to £38,700, prohibited social care workers from bringing dependents on their visa and increased the minimum income for a British citizen to sponsor a spouse/partner visa from £18,600 to £29,000.

Separately, the government also announced that from the beginning of 2024 international students would no longer be allowed to bring family members to the U.K. bar postgraduate research courses and government-funded scholarships.

Data from the end of 2024 shows that net migration fell to 431,000 from a peak of 860,000 in 2023, with long-term migration sitting at 948,000 — down from over 1.3 million a year prior. Work visa grants declined to 253,000 and student visas declined to 419,000 that year, while student dependent visas dropped by 85% to 22,000 and skilled work dependent visas dropped to 159,000.

Small Boat Crossings

Though amendments to visa policies helped stop a rise in legal migration, by 2024, the same could not be said for irregular migration. During this period, the U.K. had witnessed a steady increase in migrants entering the U.K. illegally on small boats via the English Channel. Sitting at 299 arrivals by small boats in 2018, this had increased to a peak of nearly 46,000 in 2022 while remaining in the tens of thousands in the years after despite a series of agreements with France seeking to combat the issue. This also mirrored a wider trend of increasing asylum applications to the U.K., reaching 108,000 in 2024 after ranging between 22,000 and 46,000 from 2004 to 2020.

Post-COVID rises in migration were not U.K.-specific, with trends mirrored across Western Europe and in the U.S. due to factors such as record global displacement, but the U.K.'s exit from the EU's Dublin Regulation meant that asylum applications could no longer be returned to the first country of entry within the bloc. Therefore, as a signatory of the 1951 Refugee Convention, individuals who asylum seekers were guaranteed the right for the claims to be assessed on their merits before they could be returned to their home nation.

The asylum backlog, once only 6,000 in 2010, grew from 27,000 in 2018 to a peak of 132,000 in 2022. Between 2019-2029, the government is expected to spend £15.3 billion on asylum accommodation, with 76% of the annual cost covering asylum hotels despite only housing 35% of asylum seekers.

YouGov data shows that, as of the start of 2020, only approximately 20% of polled respondents saw immigration as one of the most important issues facing the country, below the environment, the economy, crime, health and Britain leaving the EU. By late 2025, it polled the most important issue facing the country.

Keir Starmer's Labour Party came to power in early July 2024.

Within their election manifesto, the party called for a "fair and properly managed immigration system," pledging to reduce net migration, reform the points-based system, and address domestic skills shortages.

2024 Civil Unrest

Less than a month after Labour's victory, Axel Rudakubana — a second-generation British citizen of Rwandan descent — murdered three girls aged between six and nine and injured ten other individuals at a birthday party in Southport. Seventeen at the time of the incident, Rudakubana's identity was initially withheld from the public. This led to social media speculation that the attacker was both an illegal immigrant and/or Muslim, ultimately triggering anti-immigration protests across the U.K.

With disorder occurring in cities such as London, Liverpool, Blackpool, Stoke-on-Trent and Hull among others, by January 2025 over 1,800 people had been arrested and nearly 1,100 were charged across 246 events, the majority of which for serious public order offenses.

Following a summer of protests and riots, the Starmer government announced in January 2025 that it was to introduce the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill into Parliament. The bill, yet to become law, aims to establish a Border Security Commander to lead border security efforts and to create new offenses targeting organized immigration crime, including criminalizing the supply of items used in such crimes and enhancing search powers for electronic devices.

In May 2025, the government also published a white paper announcing further changes to the U.K.'s visa and settlement rules. These proposals sought to reduce migration by approximately 100,000 by reducing the list of jobs available for employers to sponsor on a skilled worker visa, removing social care workers from the skilled worker visa, reducing the length of the graduate visa from two years to 18 months, increasing English language rules, and increasing the qualifying period for permanent resident from five to ten years.

EU Deal

Meanwhile, the same month the U.K. and the EU announced its first post-Brexit deal, agreeing, in theory, to "a balanced youth experience scheme on terms to be mutually agreed," while in July the U.K. and France agreed to a limited "one-in, one-out" deal where asylum seekers illegally crossing into the U.K. are swapped with asylum seekers with family link to the country. The Labour government has also announced plans to expand the deportation of foreign criminals, as well as the closure of the family reunion visa until new rules are agreed to.

Grooming Gangs

In June 2025, Baroness Casey's National Audit on Group-Based Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse was published. The report concluded that, though "the system has consistently failed to fully acknowledge [ethnicity of grooming gangs] or collect accurate data," there was "enough evidence available in local police data in three police force areas which we examined which show disproportionate numbers of men from Asian ethnic backgrounds amongst suspects for group-based child sexual exploitation," calling for further effort and examination in future. A national inquiry into grooming gangs has subsequently been ordered by the government and remains ongoing.

Further Civil Unrest

In July 2025, Hadush Kebatu, an asylum seeker from Ethiopia based at the Bell Hotel in Epping, Essex, was charged with and later found guilty of sexually assaulting both a 14-year-old girl and a woman. Following these incidents, the U.K. witnessed protests and counter-protests concerning asylum accommodation.

In Epping alone, approximately 32 individuals were arrested with incidents of disorder with 21 individuals charged, with further demonstrations taking place in Canary Wharf, Birmingham, Bristol, Liverpool and Newcastle among others. Whilst pledging to close all asylum hotels by the end of the parliamentary term, the government successfully appealed against an attempt by Epping Council to close the hotel due to breach of planning regulation, claiming that closures must be safe and orderly.

In September 2025, approximately 150,000 people attended the Unite the Kingdom rally led by Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, also known as Tommy Robinson, according to Metropolitan Police estimates, though Robinson claimed millions of people joined. As of early November 2025, immigration remains the most important issue (55%) according to the British public, sitting ahead of the economy (53%), health (31%) and crime (23).

Latest Data & Asylum Reform

In November 2025, the Home Office announced its intention to reform asylum policy. This includes a reduction in initial refugee leave to remain from five years to 30 months, an increase in time required to apply for indefinite settlement from five to 20 years, the removal of automatic right to family reunion under core protection, and a reduction in rights to public funds. In December, the U.K. became one of 27 nations to call for a reinterpretation of the European Convention on Human Rights, including Article 8 (right to respect for private and family life) and Article 3 (prohibition of torture).

Provisional data by the ONS shows that, in the year ending June 2025, U.K. net migration fell to 204,000, approximately two-thirds lower than the year before. Net migration reductions were attributed to a fall in non-EU+ immigration, with reductions in study, work and family-related visas.

As of Dec. 8, 2025, approximately 39,000 people have crossed the English Channel by small boats, down from the 2022 peak but above levels seen in 2021, 2023 and 2024.

Latest YouGov polling also shows immigration to remain the self-perceived most important issue facing the U.K., sitting joint with the economy (50%).