LONDON: Net migration in the UK hit a record 606,000 in 2022, official figures showed on Thursday, heaping pressure on the government, which has pledged to cut dependency on foreign labor.
Responding to the figures, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak described legal immigration levels as “too high.”
“It’s as simple as that and I want to bring them down,” he told ITV in an interview.
Measures announced earlier this week to tighten the number of international students allowed to bring their families with them would have a significant impact, he added.
Immigration has long been a key political issue in the UK and was one of the main battlegrounds of the Brexit referendum in 2016, which saw the country leave the European Union.
In 2021, net migration — the difference between the number of people leaving the UK and those arriving — was 488,000.
Jay Lindop, director of the center for international migration at the Office for National Statistics (ONS), said world events such as the end of the Covid-19 pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine played a part in the increase.
China’s squeeze on civil rights in Hong Kong, which led to the UK relaxing entry rules for holders of British overseas passports, also had an impact.
“A series of unprecedented world events throughout 2022 and the lifting of restrictions following the coronavirus pandemic led to record levels of international immigration to the UK,” said Lindop.
Brexit brought an end to the policy of free movement of people from EU member states, which many businesses have since blamed for a shortage of workers.
Among those hardest hit have been agriculture, and the health and social care sector, prompting the government to relax immigration rules to try to plug the gap.
The main opposition Labour party’s home affairs spokeswoman, Yvette Cooper, called the latest figures “extraordinary” and said it showed the government had “no plan and no grip” on the issue.
“Ministers have completely failed to tackle skills shortages or help people back into work after Covid,” she added.
Sunak is under pressure from within his own Conservative ranks to restrict immigration, with right-wingers arguing that the current numbers are unsustainable.
Adding to his woes is a growing backlog in the Home Office’s processing of asylum claims, particularly of migrants crossing the Channel from northern Europe in small boats.
Attempts to send failed asylum seekers to Rwanda, prompted by an unprecedented 45,000 arrivals last year, have been stuck in the courts.
So far, no one who has had their asylum application turned down has been sent to the central African nation as part of a deal between London and Kigali.
Separate figures also released on Thursday showed that the number of outstanding asylum claims at the end of March 2023 stood at just over 172,000 — up 57 percent from some 109,000 the previous year.
Of the 172,000 waiting for an initial decision, nearly 129,000 were waiting for more than six months — a 76 percent increase the same period to March 2022.
Sunak said he believed the measures his government was taking to lower legal migration would “bring the numbers down over time.”
But he said he believed it was the issue of failed asylum-seekers that was of greatest concern to UK voters. A general election is expected next year.
Measures such as tightening the rules on overseas students went “alongside our other plan... to stop the boats because that’s really important,” he added.
Sunak argued that housing asylum-seekers in hotels while their applications are processed was costing large sums of taxpayers’ money and diverted resources from others.
“How can it be fair for someone to come here illegally when there are people who are waiting their turn and doing it properly?” he said.
“There are lots of vulnerable people in the world that we want to welcome here and look after. We can’t do that while the system is full of people who jumped the queue.”
But critics said the backlog was an issue of the government’s own making, while its policy of restricting legal migration through safe routes would only exacerbate the “small boats” problem.
“Leaving people in limbo like this, unable to work, separated from family and uncertain about their future, is costly to people’s physical and mental health and the taxpayer,” said Christina Marriott, from the British Red Cross.
“Processing claims more quickly would help people settle into communities, start work and get on with their lives.”
UK’s Sunak vows to cut immigration as figures hit new high
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UK’s Sunak vows to cut immigration as figures hit new high
- Responding to the figures, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak described legal immigration levels as "too high"
- Immigration has long been a key political issue in the UK and was one of the main battlegrounds of the Brexit referendum in 2016
UN reports improved prospects for the world economy and forecasts 2.7 percent growth in 2024
- The mid-2024 report says the world economy is now projected to grow by 2.7 percent this year and by 2.8 percent in 2025
UNITED NATIONS: The United Nations reported improved prospects for the world economy since its January forecast on Thursday, pointing to a better outlook in the United States and several large emerging economies including Brazil, India and Russia.
According to its mid-2024 report, the world economy is now projected to grow by 2.7 percent this year – up from the 2.4 percent forecast in its January report – and by 2.8 percent in 2025. A 2.7 percent growth rate would equal growth in 2023, but still be lower than the 3 percent growth rate before the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2020.
“Our prognosis is one of guarded optimism, but with important caveats,” Shantanu Mukherjee, director of the UN’s Economic Analysis and Policy Division, told a news conference launching the report.
The report pointed to interest rates that are higher for longer periods, debt repayment challenges, continuing geopolitical tensions and climate risks especially for the world’s poorest countries and small island nations.
Mukherjee said inflation, which is down from its 2023 peak, is both “a symptom of the underlying fragility” of the global economy where it still lurks, “but also a cause for concern in its own right.”
“We’ve seen that in some countries inflation continues to be high,” he said. “Globally, energy and food prices are inching upward in recent months, but I think a bit more insidious even is the persistence of inflation above the 2 percent central bank target in many developed countries.”
The UN forecast for 2024 is lower than those of both the International Monetary Fund and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
In mid-April, the IMF forecast that the world economy would continue growing at 3.2 percent during 2024 and 2025, the same pace as in 2023. And the OECD in early May forecast 3.1 percent growth in 2024 and 3.2 percent in 2025.,
The latest UN estimates foresee 2.3 percent growth in the United States in 2024, up from 1.4 percent forecast at the start of the year, and a small increase for China from 4.7 percent in January to 4.8 percent. for the year.
Despite climate risks, the report by the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs forecasts improved economic growth from 2.4 percent in 2023 to 3.3 percent in 2024 for the small developing island nations primary due to a rebound in tourism.
On a negative note, the report projects that economic growth in Africa will be 3.3 percent, down from 3.5 percent forecast at the beginning of 2024. It cited weak prospects in the continent’s largest economies – Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa – along with seven African countries “in debt distress” and 13 others at “high risk of debt distress.”
Mukherjee said the lower forecast for Africa “is particularly worrying because Africa is home to about 430 million (people) living in extreme poverty and close to 40 percent share of the global undernourished population” and “two-thirds of the high inflation countries listed in our update are also in Africa.”
For developing countries, he said, the situation isn’t “as dire” but an important concern is the continuing fall and sharp decline in investment growth.
Japan, US move ahead in co-developing hypersonic weapons interceptor as regional threats grow
TOKYO: Japan and the United States on Wednesday signed an arrangement to jointly develop a new type of missile defense system as the allies seek to defend against the growing threat of hypersonic weapons, which are possessed by China and Russia and being tested by North Korea.
The project was initially agreed between Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and US President Joe Biden at their summit last August and reaffirmed between the leaders during Kishida’s April visit to Washington. The Glide Phase Interceptor is planned for deployment by the mid-2030s.
Wednesday’s agreement determines the allocation of responsibility and decision-making process, a first major step in the project, Japanese defense ministry officials said. They hope to decide on Japanese contractors and start the development process by March 2025.
Hypersonic weapons are designed to exceed Mach 5, or five times the speed of sound, posing a threat to regional missile-defense systems with their speed and maneuverability. Developing interceptors of them is a challenge.
Japan’s defense ministry called it a “pressing issue” and noted that hypersonic weapons in the region have dramatically improved in recent years.
Under the arrangement, Japan is responsible for developing a part at the interceptor’s tip that separates in space to destroy the incoming warhead, as well as its rocket motors, officials said.
Japan has earmarked 75.7 billion yen ($490 million) for initial development and testing of the interceptor, according to the defense ministry.
The cost includes making components for the two companies, Raytheon Technologies and Northrop Grumman, that are developing the weapon in a competition led by the US Missile Defense Agency. One will be chosen for the project.
The MDA has estimated the cost to develop the hypersonic missile interceptor will exceed $3 billion, including Japan’s share of $1 billion.
The interceptors will be deployed on Aegis-class destroyers, like the ship-to-air Standard Missile-3 that Japan previously co-developed with the United States.
Japan has been accelerating its miliary buildup as it stresses the need to fortify its deterrence against growing threats. Japan has also significantly eased its weapons export policy to allow co-developed lethal weapons to third countries.
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This story has been corrected to say GPI stands for Glide Phase Interceptor, not Glide Sphere Interceptor.
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Using frozen Russian assets for Ukraine must align with law, Japan says
TOKYO: Japanese Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki said on Friday it is important that discussions will be aligned with international law when asked about a US proposal for using the interest derived from frozen Russian assets to aid Ukraine.
“Japan plans to join the discussions at the upcoming Group of Seven meeting from this basic standpoint,” Suzuki said.
Senegalese prime minister criticizes French military bases on territory
- “I reiterate here the desire of Senegal to have its own control, which is incompatible with the lasting presence of foreign military bases in Senegal," PM Sonko said
- Neighbours Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger have pushed out French troops and turned to Russia for help fighting jihadist insurgencies on their territory
DAKAR: Senegal’s prime minister Ousmane Sonko raised the possibility of closing French military bases in the West African country on Thursday in a wide-ranging speech that also touched on the euro-backed CFA franc currency, oil and gas deals and LGBTQ rights.
Sonko, a firebrand politician who gained power when his hand-picked presidential candidate Bassirou Diomaye Faye won a decisive victory in March, is known for criticizing perceived overreach by France in its former colony.
France has about 350 troops in Senegal.
“More than 60 years after our independence ... we must question the reasons why the French army for example still benefits from several military bases in our country and the impact of this presence on our national sovereignty and our strategic autonomy,” Sonko said at a joint conference with the French left-wing politician Jean-Luc Melenchon in the capital Dakar.
“I reiterate here the desire of Senegal to have its own control, which is incompatible with the lasting presence of foreign military bases in Senegal ... Many countries have promised defense agreements, but this does not justify the fact that a third of the Dakar region is now occupied by foreign garrisons.”
Neighbours Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger have pushed out French troops and turned to Russia for help fighting jihadist insurgencies on their territory.
They have also turned away from West African bloc ECOWAS — which condemned their coups — and formed their own alliance of Sahel states.
But Sonko had friendly words for them on Thursday.
“We will not let go of our brothers in the Sahel and we will do everything necessary to strengthen the ties,” he said.
He also said Senegal, which shares the euro-pegged CFA franc currency with seven countries, would like a flexible currency pegged to at least two currencies to help absorb shocks and support export competitiveness.
During the election campaign, Faye had initially pledged to abandon the CFA franc but later backed off his promise.
Sonko reiterated promises to renegotiate oil and gas contracts in Senegal, where production is due to begin this year.
He also called on Western countries to show “restraint, respect, reciprocity and tolerance” on social matters including LGBTQ rights and gender equality.
He said homosexuality had always existed in Senegal, but the country had “managed” it and would continue to do so according to its socio-cultural realities.
“Senegal and many other African countries cannot accept any truth in legalizing this phenomenon.”
China and Russia reaffirm their close ties as Moscow presses its offensive in Ukraine
- Putin and Xi said they were seeking an end to the war in Ukraine, but they offered no new proposals in their public remarks
- China claims to take a neutral position in the conflict, but continues to supply key components needed by Moscow for weapons production
BEIJING: Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Thursday reaffirmed their “no-limits” partnership that has deepened as both countries face rising tensions with the West, and they criticized US military alliances in Asia and the Pacific region.
At their summit in Beijing, Putin thanked Xi for China’s proposals for ending the war in Ukraine, which have been rejected by Ukraine and its Western supporters as largely following the Kremlin’s line.
Putin’s two-day state visit to one of his strongest allies and trading partners comes as Russian forces are pressing an offensive in northeastern Ukraine’s Kharkiv region in the most significant border incursion since the full-scale invasion began on Feb. 24, 2022.
China claims to take a neutral position in the conflict, but it has backed the Kremlin’s contentions that Russia was provoked into attacking Ukraine by the West, and it continues to supply key components needed by Moscow for weapons production.
China, which hasn’t criticized the invasion, proposed a broadly worded peace plan in 2023, calling for a ceasefire and for direct talks between Moscow and Kyiv. The plan was rejected by both Ukraine and the West for failing to call for Russia to leave occupied parts of Ukraine.
China also gave a rhetorical nod to Russia’s narrative about Nazism in Ukraine, with a joint statement Thursday that said Moscow and Beijing should defend the post-World War II order and “severely condemn the glorification of or even attempts to revive Nazism and militarism.”
Putin has cited the “denazification” of Ukraine as a main goal of the military action, falsely describing the government of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who is Jewish and lost relatives in the Holocaust, as neo-Nazis.
The largely symbolic and ceremonial visit stressed partnership between two countries who both face challenges in their relationship with the US and Europe.
“Both sides want to show that despite what is happening globally, despite the pressure that both sides are facing from the US, both sides are not about to turn their backs on each other anytime soon,” said Hoo Tiang Boon, who researches Chinese foreign policy at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University.
While Putin and Xi said they were seeking an end to the war, they offered no new proposals in their public remarks.
“China hopes for the early return of Europe to peace and stability and will continue to play a constructive role toward this,” Xi said in prepared remarks to media in Beijing’s Great Hall of the People. His words echoed what China said when it offered a broad plan for peace.
Earlier, Putin was welcomed in Tiananmen Square with military pomp. After a day in Beijing, the Russian leader arrived in Harbin, where he was expected to attend a number of events on Friday.
On the eve of his visit, Putin said China’s proposal could “lay the groundwork for a political and diplomatic process that would take into account Russia’s security concerns and contribute to achieving a long-term and sustainable peace.”
Zelensky has said any negotiations must include a restoration of Ukraine’s territorial integrity, the withdrawal of Russian troops, the release of all prisoners, a tribunal for those responsible for the aggression and security guarantees for Ukraine.
After Russia’s latest offensive in Ukraine last week, the war is in a critical stage as Ukraine’s depleted military waits for new supplies of anti-aircraft missiles and artillery shells from the United States after months of delay.
The joint statement from China and Russia also criticized US foreign policy at length, hitting out at US-formed alliances, which the statement called having a “Cold War mentality.”
China and Russia also accused the US of deploying land-based intermediate range missile systems in the Asia-Pacific under the pretext of joint exercises with allies. They said that the US actions in Asia were “changing the balance of power” and “endangering the security of all countries in the region.”
The joint statement demonstrated China’s support to Russia.
China is “falling over themselves to give Russia face and respect without saying anything specific, and without committing themselves to anything,” said Susan Thornton, a former diplomat and a senior fellow at the Paul Tsai China Center at Yale Law School.
The meeting was yet another affirmation of the friendly “no-limits” relationship China and Russia signed in 2022, just before Moscow invaded Ukraine.
Since then, Russia has become increasingly dependent economically on China as Western sanctions cut its access to much of the international trading system. China’s increased trade with Russia, totaling $240 billion last year, has helped the country mitigate some of the worst blowback from sanctions.
Moscow has diverted the bulk of its energy exports to China and relied on Chinese companies for importing high-tech components for Russian military industries to circumvent Western sanctions.
“I and President Putin agree we should actively look for convergence points of the interests of both countries, to develop each’s advantages, and deepen integration of interests, realizing each others’ achievements,” Xi said.
US State Department deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel said that China can’t “have its cake and eat it too.
“You cannot want to have deepened relations with Europe … while simultaneously continuing to fuel the biggest threat to European security in a long time,” Patel said.
Xi congratulated Putin on starting his fifth term in office and celebrated the 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the former Soviet Union and the People’s Republic of China, which was established following a civil war in 1949. Putin has eliminated all major political opponents and faced no real challenge in the March election.
“In a famous song of that time, 75 years ago — it is still performed today — there is a phrase that has become a catchphrase: ‘Russians and Chinese are brothers forever,’” Putin said.
Russia-China military ties have strengthened during the war. They have held a series of joint war games in recent years.
China remains a major market for Russian military, while also massively expanding its domestic defensive industries, including building aircraft carriers and nuclear submarines.
Putin has previously said that Russia has been sharing highly sensitive military technologies with China that helped significantly bolster its defense capability.
