Emily Atkinson
Live editor

Almost there: At 09:30 GMT, the Office for National Statistics will publish its latest UK net migration figure for the 12 months to June 2024. (At the same time, we'll get Home Office data on asylum claims, but more on that in a bit).

Quick reminder: The ONS figure will show the difference in the number of people arriving in the country and leaving it.

Hold your horses: It may take two or three minutes for our team to comb through the figures - so don't expect a net migration number at 09:30 exactly.

This is not really about Keir Starmer's government: The figure will be for the 12 months to June this year - the period before Labour entered government - so the likely drop is a reflection of Conservative policies (our correspondent Tom Symonds got into this earlier on).

So what's the ideal number?: Labour's been careful not to put a number on it. For Chris Philp, the shadow home secretary, it's a lot less than 350,000.

Rob England
BBC Verify

The number of applications for visas give us an indication of what today's net migration figures will show.

In the year to June 2024, about 94,000 fewer people applied to travel to the UK on study visas than in the previous 12 months, according to Home Office data from earlier this month., external

"Study visa" figures include family members or other dependants of students - but from January 2024 many students were prohibited from bringing them with them, under visa changes by the then Conservative government.

Applications for health and care workers and their dependants remained slightly higher in the year to June than in the previous year - this was mainly driven by a surge in the second half of 2023.

But care workers were also barred from bringing in dependants, under visa changes in March 2024.

Skilled worker visa applications increased slightly over the same period, with a noticeable rise before a government shake up of the jobs this visa applies to in April 2024. Applications have fallen since.

Rob England
BBC Verify

Twice a year the Office for National Statistics publishes estimates on the number of people moving to the UK on a longer-term basis (immigration), and those leaving (emigration).

Net migration is the number of people arriving, minus the number of people leaving, and represents the gain or loss to the UK population.

There are many reasons why people move to the UK, but the largest groups are those travelling on work or study visas.

Humanitarian visas - such as those offered to people from Ukraine and Hong Kong - and people seeking asylum also feature.

Detail on where people are from who are arriving or leaving is also presented in the figures.

Image source, PA Media

In a speech last night, Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch admitted her party got it "wrong" on immigration, saying they "may have tried, but we did not deliver".

"On behalf of the Conservative Party, it is right that I as the new leader accept responsibility, and say truthfully we got this wrong," she said. "I more than understand the public anger on this issue. I share it."

Badenoch said her policies would include:

• A "strict numerical cap" on migration - although she did not put a figure on it
• Visas only granted to people who "make a clear contribution" to the UK
• "Every policy, treaty and part of our legal framework" would be reviewed, including immigrants' access to benefits, membership of the European Court of Human Rights and the Human Rights Act
• Zero tolerance for foreign criminals remaining in the UK

Minister for Migration and Citizenship, Seema Malhotra, has been pressed by BBC Breakfast on which net migration figure would be considered too high by the Labour government.

But asked multiple times to give a number, she declines to do so.

Instead, Malhotra says linking skills policy with visa policy is important - and the government has commissioned the Migration Advisory Committee to advise on skills shortages, and help them provide a figure.

She also tells the BBC the Labour government has taken "important steps" to tackle the backlog of asylum applications that were left by the previous Tory government.

She says they include recruiting a border security commander to do "all we can to disrupt the criminal gangs who are undermining our border security and putting lives at risk".

Pressed on having to open seven more hotels to house asylum seekers, Malhotra says the net increase was a result of inheriting a system that was "out of control".

Mark Easton
Home editor

Along with ONS estimates of total migration to the UK, we will get the latest Home Office figures on those who have claimed asylum on arrival, and are now awaiting a decision on whether they are eligible to stay.

Asylum seekers make up a very small part of immigration arrivals, around 3-4%.

However, there is concern that the number of people stuck in the asylum system will have gone up since the election.

At the end of June there were almost 119,000 people awaiting a decision on their application, but the previous government’s Illegal Migration Act meant the claims of many asylum seekers who had arrived by unauthorised routes were not considered.

Home Office sources indicate they expect the asylum backlog to have increased significantly - adding to the pressure on accommodation including the controversial use of hotels.

Shadow home secretary Chris Philp tells the BBC the number of people coming to the UK has been historically "too high" over the last "30 or so years" - including under Conservative governments.

He says even if net migration falls to 350,000, as some forecasts expect, that remains too high.

"The OBR forecast in the Budget a couple of weeks ago was about 300, or I think 350,000, somewhere around there, and I think that is too high, significantly too high as well."

Pressed on what the Conservative Party would deem an acceptable number, Philp says: "I’m not going to shoot from the hip."

A new approach is needed, he says, including moving away from low skilled migration and towards high-skilled migration instead.

"Let’s also invest more on technology," he says - adding that more automation would mean the economy could grow without needing high numbers of low wage migrants.

Tom Symonds
Political correspondent, in Westminster

The previous government restricted foreign students and care workers from bringing in family members, and increased the amount you need to earn to come to Britain.

Those policies are expected to reduce the net migration figure published today.

But a previous Conservative pledge to get net migration down to the tens of thousands is becoming a distant memory - as we mentioned in the previous post, 685,000 extra people ended up in the UK last year.

Keir Starmer's government has today announced that employers who breach the immigration rules will now face a longer ban on hiring overseas workers - up to two years.

It’s also increasing the number of law enforcement officers trying to track down people smugglers.

But unlike the Conservatives, Labour won’t consider ditching the European Convention on Human Rights, which protects the rights of asylum seekers.

Respecting international treaties - the government says - makes it easier to get the international cooperation vital for controlling immigration.

Good morning and welcome to our live coverage, as we wait for the latest UK net migration figures.

The figures, due at 09:30 GMT, will show net migration for the 12 month period up to June this year. The figure is the difference between the numbers arriving in the UK, and the numbers leaving.

The most recent figures, for the whole of 2023, were released in May. They showed net migration to the UK was 685,000 in 2023 - a fall from 764,000 in 2022.

Today's figure is expected to show another fall.

Stay with us for all the news, analysis, and reaction from Westminster and across the UK.