David Cameron says he will not give up on his immigration target despite net migration to the UK reaching its highest level for a decade.
Net migration rose by 50% to 318,000 last year – with sharp increases from inside and outside the EU.
A total of 641,000 people moved to the UK in 2014, the Office for National Statistics said.
But the PM said he would not “cave in” and abandon his target of reducing net migration below 100,000.
In a speech at the Home Office, he said the Liberal Democrats had held back Conservative attempts to reduce numbers during the last parliament and unveiled a string of measures aimed at curbing illegal working.
Central to these are new plans to seize the wages of illegal workers as proceeds of crime in an attempt to reduce the numbers.
However, the scale of the challenge facing ministers in reducing levels of legal immigration was highlighted again by a net migration rise the size of the population of Coventry.
The figures measure the difference between the numbers of people moving the UK for a year or more and those leaving the UK for a year or more.
They reveal:
641,000 people moved to the UK over the period, with 323,000 going the other way
284,000 people immigrated for work, a 70,000 increase
The number of Romanian and Bulgarians moving to the UK doubled to 46,000 in 2014
Employment of non-British EU nationals in the UK in January to March 2015 was 283,000 higher than the previous year
The Conservatives pledged before the 2010 election to reduce numbers to less than 100,000, a target they acknowledge they have failed to meet.
“There is no good news here for David Cameron,” said BBC assistant political editor Norman Smith.
He said ministers were shifting the emphasis of the immigration debate away from numbers towards “blue collar concerns” like jobs, pay and housing.
Source-BBC
