| Updated:
Net immigration slips by 26,000 as more people leave the UK
NET MIGRATION into the UK fell dramatically between 2010 and 2011, as more people left the country and fewer came in, data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) revealed yesterday.
Three hundred and fifty thousand people left the country in 2011, compared to 339,000 the year before, while 566,000 came in, as opposed to the 591,000 who entered in 2010.
This means that net inward migration was just 216,000 last year. Backing up this story is the 15 per cent fall in issued National Insurance numbers, and the 21 per cent fall in student visas issued.
The government has a target to cut net migration to less than 100,000 annually by the end of the current parliament.