Some extraordinary facts and figures, supported by data from the Office for National Statistics, have been doing the rounds on social media this weekend – serving to highlight how the people who wanted to ‘control our borders’ with Brexit ended up achieving the exact opposite.
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Graphs on Brexit and its immigration impact go viral
A series of graphs, which present similar data sets in different ways, show just how big the immigration boom has been since Britain officially left the EU. Although migration from within the EU fell off a cliff, non-EU net migration increased by almost FIVE-FOLD between 2019 to 2022.
‘Sharp rise in non-EU migration’
Despite promises to take back control, the exact opposite appeared to take place. Last month, the UK in a Changing Europe (UKCE) group corroborated this data, with almost one million new employees from outside the EU being registered at the end of 2024.
“Following the introduction of the new system in January 2021, net migration rose sharply, reaching record levels in 2023. In particular, non-EU employment rose sharply in the UK – reaching about 225% of its 2016 level by the end of 2024, and increasing the number of non-EU employees by 992,000.”
“In other words, Brexit substantially reduced EU-origin employment and substantially increased non-EU-origin employment. Across Europe, ageing populations are increasing demand for migrant labour. Our analysis suggests that leaving the EU did not resolve that dilemma.” | UKCE
Brexit was sold with the explicit promise that Britain would be able to take a firm grip of its own border security. Instead, numbers have increased year-on-year, and the only material difference is just how few of the people coming into the UK are from Europe.
The snake-oil salesmen who flogged Brexit are asking for your vote… again
Though the data has been publicly available for a while, these charts have been particularly visible online over the last 48 hours. But why does it matter? Well, with the 2026 Local Elections taking place later this week, it could well serve as a strong reminder to take stock.
Remember the people who campaigned for Vote Leave? Remember the sunlit uplands we were promised? Remember the promises that were emblazoned on the sides of big red buses? Despite their spectacular failure to deliver, quite a few of them will be asking for your vote on Thursday.
Brexit is flawed in many respects. But those who secured the famous referendum win almost a decade ago didn’t even have the conviction to deliver on the very cornerstones of their campaign. And yet, remarkably, it is those who failed on immigration who continue to make the most noise about it.
Funny old game politics, isn’t it?