Net migration hits highest level on record

Critics claim Britain is now a "borderless" country as figures showed net migration has hit a record high.

Official figures from the Office for National Statistics showed net migration for the year to March 2015, was 330,000, up 40% on the previous year.

Some experts claim the figures are a sign of a growing UK economy.

ITV News Business Editor Joel Hills looks into the "migration effect" on Britain.

A total of 917,000 foreign nationals registered for a national insurance number in the 12 months to June, official figures show.

The figure was almost two thirds (62%) higher than the same period last year.

Three quarters of the total registrations - 697,000 - were for citizens from EU citizens - an increase of 66% compared with the previous year.

Romanians accounted for the most, with 170,000, followed by Poles with 128,000. There were 44,000 for Bulgarians.

The most common nationality allocated an NI number from outside the EU was Indian, with 40,000, the figures from the Office for National Statistics show.

Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper has said the record net migration figures show the prime minister "needs to stop the dishonesty over his failed immigration target and replace it with a sensible plan instead which properly separates immigration and asylum".

She added: "All his overblown rhetoric has achieved is a decline in public confidence as the electorate are faced with more broken promises."

Ukip leader Nigel Farage has said new figures which reveal net migration to Britain is at a record high, show "we are living in a borderless Britain".

"The government have no power whatsoever to stop anybody coming into Britain from the European Union. We have net migration now running at ten times its historical post-war average and that's if you believe the figures", he added.

The number of EU citizens immigrating to the UK is at a record high, according to the Office for National Statistics.

• A total of 269,000 were estimated to have come to the UK in the year to March, up 26% on the previous year.
• 61% of EU citizens immigrating for work had a definite job offer.
• 39% were intending to look for a job rather than taking up an offer of employment.
• 53,000 Romanian and Bulgarian citizens immigrated to the UK - almost double the 28,000 in the previous 12 months.

Keith Vaz, chairman of the parliamentary home affairs committee,has said record UK net migration figures are "shocking".

Official figures from the Office for National Statistics show net migration for the year to March 2015, was 330,000, up 40% on the previous year.

"These record breaking figures are shocking. Only one month ago Theresa May told the home affairs committee that net migration of under 100,000 was her target, the Labour MP said.

"This is clearly not going to happen. Broken promises on migration do not build confidence with the public. We need a radically different approach."

New figures from the Office for National Statistics for the year to March 2015 have revealed that net migration to Britain is at a record high.

Immigration minister James Brokenshire has said new figures showing net migration to Britain is at a record level are "deeply disappointing".

Net migration was an estimated 330,000 in the year to March - the highest level on record, according to the National Office of Statistics.

"These stark figures are deeply disappointing," said Mr Brokenshire.

"While these figures underline the challenges we need to meet to reduce net migration, they should also act as a further wake-up call for the EU. Current flows of people across Europe are on a scale we haven't seen since the end of the Second World War", he added.

According to the Office for National Statistics, net migration for the year to March 2015, was up 40% on the previous year.

The difference between the number of people entering and the number leaving was an estimated 330,000.