WORLDNNEWS :Net Migration To UK Soars By More Than 40%

The latest immigration stats leave in tatters the Prime Minister's promise to curb the number of people coming to live in Britain.

Video: Immigration Minister Defends Govt Net migration to the UK rocketed to 260,000 in the year to June - a hike of 43% - latest figures show. The data published by the Office for National Statistics derails the Government promise to bring down the number to tens of thousands by the next election.

The Home Secretary Theresa May paved the way for the target to be missed in recent days when she said it had been "blown off course" because of internal EU migration.

The rise in net migration, described as "statistically significant" by the ONS, will ramp up the pressure on David Cameron who had given a "No ifs, no buts" pledge to get net migration down to below 100,000 by May, 2015.

The figures will be seized on by UKIP, buoyed by recent -by-election successes, to argue only quitting the EU can curb immigration.

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The ONS data shows 583,000 people immigrated to the UK in the year ending June, up from the 502,000 in the previous 12 months.

The rise was driven by increases in immigration from the European Union, which was up 45,000 and outside the EU, which was up 30,000, according to statisticians.

Net migration to the UK - the difference between those arriving and leaving - was 260,000 in the period, up from 182,000 in the previous 12 months.

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This is 16,000 higher than it was in the year to June 2010 when the coalition Government came to office, when it stood at 244,000.

The latest figures also revealed a "statistically significant increase" in Romanian and Bulgarian citizens arriving in the UK over the period, rising to 32,000 from 18,000 in the previous year.