Britain has ‘most illegal migrants in Europe’

Figures showing one in 100 of the population is in the country illegally disclosed following biggest day for Channel crossings this year

Britain is home to more illegal immigrants than any other European nation, a new study has found.
There are up to 745,000 illegal immigrants in the UK, accounting for one in 100 of the population, according to the research led by Oxford University experts.
This is more than double the 300,000 in France and ahead even of the upper estimate of 700,000 in Germany, which has the second-largest population of illegal immigrants in Europe.
The figures were disclosed as the Home Office said 973 immigrants in 17 small boats crossed the English Channel on Saturday, the biggest daily number this year.
The total number of people to cross in 2024 is 26,612, up five per cent on 2023 at the same stage, but 21 per cent behind the record 33,611 at this point in 2022.
French authorities confirmed four people died while trying to cross the Channel on Saturday, including a two-year-old boy who was “trampled to death” in a dinghy.
Senior Tories demanded that Sir Keir Starmer rethink Labour’s approach after the Prime Minister scrapped a scheme in which asylum seekers would have been sent to Rwanda while they were processed.
The Government is under intense pressure to tackle people-smuggling gangs responsible for the crisis, and to crack down on crime committed by immigrants in Britain. The Telegraph disclosed last week that one in 50 Albanians in the UK is in jail.
James Cleverly, the shadow home secretary, said: “We need to deter people from coming here illegally and to root them out of our economy when they are here.”
Robert Jenrick, the former immigration minister, who has called for the UK to quit the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), said: “This is the highest number crossing the Channel in a single day for years. Sir Keir needs to rip up his dangerous so-called ‘plan’ on small boats. Our country’s security is at stake.”
The up to 745,000 people estimated to have come to Britain illegally include foreign nationals who have overstayed their visas, failed asylum seekers who have disappeared and some immigrants who have crossed the Channel in small boats.
Labour has pledged to smash the people-smuggling gangs by setting up a Border Security Command to work with European and G7 partners and giving UK law enforcement and intelligence agencies new counter terror-style powers.
Sir Keir has rejected calls to quit the ECHR to help tackle the crisis, and at the weekend French and European sources told The Telegraph that Britain would only get an EU deal to send Channel immigrants back to France if it remained in the European Court of Human Rights.
A Home Office source said: “Far from softening the response, this new Government has increased returns of those living here illegally and set up a new Border Security Command to relentlessly pursue the criminal smuggling gangs making millions out of small boat crossings, undermining our border security and putting lives at risk. We are getting a grip after the chaos of the last Government’s approach.
“The Tory leadership candidates are clinging on to the Rwanda partnership, which spent £700 million to send four volunteers. Perhaps it’s time for them to learn from their mistakes, rather than simply doubling down.”
The research – published on Monday and compiled by 18 institutions including Oxford University’s Compas center – estimated the number of illegal immigrants in the UK was between 594,000 and 745,000, ahead of Germany (up to 700,000), France (300,000), Italy (458,000) and Spain (469,000).
Germany and the UK’s upper estimates accounted for a quarter of all illegal immigrants in the 12 EU nations covered by the research. 
The Home Office does not publish data on the number of illegal immigrants in the UK except for those crossing the Channel. Most of those are, however, not included in Oxford research because they seek asylum on arrival.
The 745,000 illegal immigrants – equivalent to a city the size of Seattle – come on top of the overall backlog of 224,742 asylum seekers who are awaiting a decision on their claim, appealing a rejection, or have exhausted or not yet exercised their appeal rights.
Experts suggested the size of the UK’s illegal immigrant population could reflect its bigger black market than other countries, the Government’s reluctance to grant amnesties unlike other nations and “hostile environment” policies that incentivized immigrants to stay away from public services.
Although the Home Office does not publish the data, leaked internal Home Office estimates five years ago suggested that at least 150,000 foreign nationals entered the UK illegally each year and then disappeared into the black market.
The Oxford researchers said they did not believe that the overall numbers had increased over recent years but said the Government should follow the example of countries such as the US and Italy, which aim to assess and record the size of their illegal immigrant population.
The research will form the basis for a new public database which will bring together and assess the latest estimates of how many illegal immigrants live in European countries and North America.
Denis Kierans, senior researcher at Oxford’s Compas migration center, said it was important for policymakers to know the scale because “these are people who are living and working in the UK, but who are operating outside the mainstream tax and benefits system. What that means is the state is missing out on their contributions to the public purse while they end up at the fringes of society, at risk of exploitation and destitution”.