House of Commons
Parliament

Conservative Philip Davies wonders if the government is being "overly harsh" on the family as a "direct consequence" of having free movement from within the EU.

James Brokenshire replies that the majority of net migration comes from outside the EU.

Image source, HOc

House of Commons
Parliament

Ian Blackford tells the House that the Brain family have made a commitment to the Highlands region, demonstrated by the fact that their son speaks Gallic better than English.

He further informs MPs that the mother, Katherine, has been offered a job at a distillery in DIngwall and urges the minister to give her time to qualify for the two 2 visa.

"For goodness sake minister - do the right thing," he says.

James Brokenshire draws attention to the fact that he has already shown discretion in this case "not once, but twice".

Image source, HOC

House of Commons
Parliament

Home Office Minister James Brokenshire runs through the history of the Brain family's visa applications.

He notes that the family is currently eligible to apply for a tier 2 visa, external but that the government has yet to receive their application.

A tier 2 visa can be applied for by those who have been offered a skilled job in the UK.

He insists that the family does not face "imminent risk of deportation".

Image source, HOC

House of Commons
Parliament

Questions conclude and the SNP's Ian Blackford rises to ask his urgent question on the Brain Family deportation.

The family, who have been living in Scotland since 2011, must leave the UK and return to Australia.

The family move to Scotland as part of an initiative backed by the Home Office to attract people to live and work in the Highlands and Islands.

However the Home Office closed the scheme in 2012 and the family were required to comply with different visa criteria.

The issue was raised at Prime Minister's questions yesterday by SNP Westminster Leader Angus Robertson. 

Boris Johnson says his party was "cynical" to pledge to bring immigration down to the tens of thousands while Britain is part of the European Union.

New figures out today show net migration to the UK rose to 333,000 in 2015 - way above the Conservatives' 2010 manifesto goal of delivering annual net migration "in the tens of thousands, not the hundreds of thousands".

Speaking to BBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg, Mr Johnson said it was "cynical and unacceptable to say you can fulfil that pledge".

BBC News Channel

Ex-work and pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith says figures released by the Office for National Statistics show "migration is now out of control and Boris Johnson is right that you can't control immigration while you've got open borders with the European Union".

He tells the BBC News Channel migration from the EU "has driven down wages for the poorest in society... due to this uncontrolled level of migration".

He says little can be done to stop an EU passport holder from entering the UK.

With an EU referendum on the horizon, we look at the main economic arguments for and against Britain's membership.

In non-EU referendum and non-migration stats news, today was the day that backbench MPs got to put their names into the hat to win the chance to bring forward their own piece of legislation in the Commons, in what is known as the Private Member's ballot. 

Those whose names come out first have a decent amount of parliamentary time available and with government backing, could see their bill make it all the way into law.

Traditionally those at the top of the list are lobbied hard by people who want specific issues to be chosen.

The top draws in the Private Members bills ballot today were: 

1) John Nicolson - SNP

2) Bob Blackman - Conservative

3) Alec Shelbrooke - Conservative

4) Pat Glass - Labour

5) Gareth Johnson - Conservative

These MPs need to put forward their bill titles on 29th June.

Read more, external

"Headline net migration figures have been central to the UK’s migration debate, but in themselves they provide little information about how EU migration affects the UK and its residents," according to Oxford University's Migration Observatory.

Director Madeleine Sumption says: "Immigration affects the UK in many different ways and its impacts cannot be reduced to a single statistic. Overall, the evidence shows that the main economic impacts of EU migration - such as effects on the UK labour market, public finances or public services - are relatively small. But different groups of people will be affected in different ways and, of course, economics is not the only factor that voters care about."

Image source, PA

Immigration Minister James Brokenshire said: "Net migration from outside of the EU and within the EU remains too high. These figures underline that there are no quick fixes or simple solutions."

He added:

Image source, AFP/Getty Images

Responding to the latest migration figures, UKIP Leader Nigel Farage said: 

The Trustees of the British Steel Pension Scheme has welcomed the government's consultation on changes to the law applying to the scheme.

Chairman Allan Johnston said the Board of Trustees "will be writing to members over the coming days to make clear its belief that, with government support, it should be possible to modify benefits so as to allow the scheme to remain outside the Pension Protection Fund (PPF) indefinitely and on a low-risk basis. Although this would entail future pension increases being cut back from their current levels, benefits would be more generous than those provided by the PPF for the vast majority of scheme members."

Thursday's figures show estimated levels of long-term migration into the UK from within the EU and outside the EU in the year to December 2015.

They show that 270,000 EU citizens moved to the UK for at least a year in 2015, up from 264,000 in 2014. The number of non-EU citizens moving to the UK was 277,000, down from 287,000 in 2014.

The rise in the overall net figure was the result of fall in the numbers of people emigrating.

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In its latest Migration Statistics Quarterly Report,, external the Office for National Statistics says: "The increase in net migration was the result of a decrease in emigration, whereas immigration was at a similar level to the previous year."

Here's what the ONS says:

Long-Term International Migration (LTIM) estimates (migration for 12 months or more)

In the year ending (YE) December 2015:

1. Net Long-Term International Migration = +333,000 (up 20,000 from YE December 2014; not statistically significant)
2. Immigration = 630,000 (down 2,000 from YE December 2014; not statistically significant)
3. Emigration = 297,000 (down 22,000 from YE December 2014 ; not statistically significant)
4. Net migration in YE December 2015 was 10,000 higher (not statistically significant) than the 323,000 published for YE September 2015.
5. The increase in net migration was the result of a decrease in emigration, whereas immigration was at a similar level to the previous year. The decrease in emigration has been driven by a fall in the number of British citizens emigrating (down 14,000; not statistically significant).
6. Net migration of EU citizens was estimated to be 184,000 (compared with 174,000 in YE December 2014; change not statistically significant). Non-EU net migration was 188,000 a similar level compared with the previous year (194,000).
7. The estimate of immigration for EU citizens was 270,000, compared with 264,000 in YE December 2014 (a non statistically significant change). Immigration of non-EU citizens saw a decrease from 287,000 to 277,000 (not statistically significant).
8. In YE December 2015, 308,000 people immigrated for work, an increase of 30,000 from the previous year and the highest estimate on record. Of these, 178,000 (58%) had a definite job to go to and 130,000 (42%) arrived looking for work – the latter figure being a statistically significant increase from 104,000 the previous year.
9. Of all EU2 citizens who came to the UK in YE December 2015, 52,000 (84%) came for work-related reasons, a statistically significant increase of 17,000 from YE December 2014. Of these, 60% (31,000) arrived with a definite job to go to, a statistically significant increase of 17,000 from YE December 2014.
10. Latest employment statistics from the Labour Force Survey show the estimated employment level of EU nationals (excluding British) living in the UK was 2.1 million in January to March 2016, 224,000 higher than the same quarter last year. British nationals in employment increased by 185,000 to 28.2 million and non-EU nationals in employment increased by 5,000 to 1.2 million. Over half of the growth in employment over the last year was accounted for by foreign nationals. (These growth figures represent the NET change in the number of people in employment, not the proportion of new jobs that have been filled by non-UK workers.)
11. There were 630,000 National Insurance Number (NINo) registrations by EU nationals in YE March 2016, an increase of 1,000 (0%) on the previous year. For non-EU nationals, there were 195,000 NINo registrations in YE March 2016, an increase of 2,000 (0%) on the previous year.
12. In YE March 2016, visas granted (non-EU, main applicants) for skilled work rose 1,316 (+2%) to 54,961. Total work visas granted decreased 1,609 (-1%) to 121,639.
13. Long-term immigration for study was estimated to be 167,000 in YE December 2015, compared with 191,000 in YE December 2014 (not statistically significant). This was driven by a statistically significant decrease of 22,000 for non-EU citizens (112,000).
14. There were 41,563 asylum applications (including dependants) in YE March 2016, an increase of 30% compared with the previous year (32,036). This is the fifth successive year in which asylum applications have risen, although the number of applications is low relative to the peak in 2002 (103,081).
15. The largest number of applications for asylum, including dependants, came from nationals of Iran (4,811; +2,324), followed by Pakistan (3,511; -1), Iraq (3,374; +2,367), Eritrea (3,340; -270) and Afghanistan (3,133; +1,423). There were 2,235 (+680) Syrian nationals granted asylum or an alternative form of protection in the YE March 2016 and a further 1,667 Syrian nationals granted humanitarian protection under the Syrian Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme.

Read the full migration stats release from the ONS , external

Sky News

Boris Johnson tells Sky News that if the UK leaves the EU it would "be able to get the figures under control". He says the latest figures represent "a failure of the government".

The former London mayor says he is in favour of immigration and "the benefits that it brings to our society" - but says people "voted at the last election to bring immigration down to the tens of thousands" (which was a commitment in the Conservative manifesto).

Mr Johnson argues that immigration should be based "on the needs of the British economy", claiming that the UK is "pushing down very unfairly on, say, talented engineers from India or paramedics from Australia" while being unable to limit EU immigration.

Victoria Derbyshire

BBC assistant political editor Norman Smith, presenting today's Victoria Derbyshire programme, says the latest migration figures "in the middle of an EU referendum campaign... will not be welcomed by team Cameron".

The government wants to reduce net migration to "tens of thousands" but instead "it's going up and up", Norman adds.

Net migration to the UK was 333,000 in 2015, according to the Office for National Statistics - up 20,000 on 2014.

Net migration of EU citizens was 184,000 in 2015, up 10,000 on the previous year.