Biggest UK population increase in 75 years driven by immigration, figures suggest
The population of England and Wales has risen by its highest annual rate in 75 years after the arrival of more than one million people from overseas in 12 months, official figures revealed today.
The Office for National Statistics said that an extra 610,000 people had been added to the two countries during the year ending in mid-2023 to give a total population of 60.9 million.
It said that migration was the main reason for the population surge, with 1.084 million arrivals from abroad counterbalanced by the departure of only 462,000 in the opposite direction — giving a net inflow of 622,000.
Either the figures are wrong or they do far more than suggest. An increase of 622,000 people is approximately the population of a city the size of Bristol. Even Keir Starmer's cabinet knows what this implies in sustainability terms.
Maybe Ed Miliband could express the problem in terms of his 'rooftop revolution' - the rate of new roof building we'll need to house everyone and meet his solar targets. Unfortunately there won't be time to build the house as well.
Millions of UK homes to get solar power as Ed Miliband aims for ‘rooftop revolution’
8 comments:
If you spread a million immigrants evenly the numbers would not seem so obvious. But condense that number into a few big cities, or neighbourhoods, then those numbers show up and the downsides are easy to trace back to those who hold to different social practices.
DJ - yes, in a few big cities the numbers show up. A practical problem is infrastructure from housing to roads to schools, we aren't good at maintaining what we have, but these numbers imply a comparatively rapid increase.
Minds driven by agenda and central planning, Adrian ... to hell with actual people.
James - yes it is, actual people don't count except as pawns on the board.
The "counterbalanced by emigration" point is bogus. Those leaving are likely to have the wealth to pay tax, and some familiarity with our customs. In fact, many will have been Brits giving up on their homeland.
It's hardly a fair swap, is it!
Sam - that's what struck me, many leavers are likely to be those with enough wealth to give up and clear off. It's probably a significant overall loss.
A better rooftop revolution would involve gibbets.
But unlike the anti-Trump fascists I always demand that the bad bastards be arrested, charged, tried, convicted, and sentenced before they are hanged. I don't like "vigilante justice": it accords with the general rule that the qualifier really means "not". As in "social justice" and so on.
dearieme - I think Laurence Fox once said "justice" doesn't need a qualifier, or it may have been his father who said it. Yes, due process comes before the noose.
Post a Comment