Latest official facts in this shocking report reveal how right the public have been
Government’s plans for housing British people are “pie in the sky”, says top Tory Peer
In the 10 years since the EU Referendum, the UK’s population has increased by nearly four million. That’s an astonishing 5.8% rise and this is despite the large numbers of people emigrating. The implications for where all these people can live – and the effect on the cost and availability of housing for the indigenous population – are enormous.
This Stand for Our Sovereignty report, produced in collaboration with colleagues at Brexit Facts4EU and The Campaign for an Independent Britain, reveals some of what the legal and illegal immigration numbers mean to the lives of British people needing somewhere to live. It has been shared exclusively with GB News.
Countries’ populations usually increase by small, incremental percentage points, but not in the case of the United Kingdom. Why is the UK so different?
To quote the Office for National Statistics:
“…recent UK population increases have been driven mainly by net international migration.”
– Office for National Statistics, 2026
Latest figures on immigration and the government’s housebuilding targets
Firstly we look at the demand. Here are the latest population figures for the UK in the last 10 years.
Housing demand is created by households, not simply people. Based on current trends, the ONS has forecast that England on its own will require accommodation for roughly 242,000 additional households a year over the next decade. This is affecting the entire younger generation in particular, as a result of difficulties obtaining a mortgage, and purchase and rental costs arising from government policies and increased demand.
Andy Burnham has inherited a new homes target – How is that going?
Since the Referendum, house build completions had been broadly increasing under Conservative governments (excepting the Covid year) until Rishi Sunak abolished the target in December 2022.
The Labour Government’s target of 1.5 million new homes in England by the end of this Parliament equated at that time to roughly 300,000 homes per year.
In the Commons in 2024, Housing Secretary Angela Rayner increased the annual target in response to a shortfall.
“We are therefore updating the standard method and raising the overall targets from around 300,000 to approximately 370,000.”
– Angela Rayner, Housing Secretary, House of Commons, 30 July 2024
Since then, the number has actually fallen from its previous levels, not risen. In the first quarter of this year only 33,630 homes were completed. This equates to an annual rate of roughly 135,000 p.a. and is far less than half what is needed.
1.34 million households were on local authority housing waiting lists in England at 31 March 2025, the highest figure for more than a decade.
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The Rt Hon the Lord Redwood, former Secretary of State
commented exclusively to GB News, Stand for our Sovereignty and Facts4EU
“Facts4EU have done a great job exposing how the UK hasn’t been building enough homes to keep up with the massive demand from migrants in recent years. The excess demand for homes has put rents through the roof and driven up prices for purchase. Bad landlords have rented out poor and sometimes illegal accommodation to illegal migrants, bringing many more homes in multiple occupation into use without proper services.
“This has left many young Brits unable to afford a home of their own. Voters think it wrong if illegal migrants get to the front of the queue for social housing when tens of thousands of UK citizens wait for years.
“A fair policy needs to start with much reduced migration. We should not allow more people into our country when we cannot provide enough decent homes for them and for the settled population.”
The Government’s pledges on ‘social and affordable housing’
Andy Burnham also inherited a £39 billion Social and Affordable Homes Programme running up to 2036.
In 2024 when announcing the Labour government’s policies, Housing Secretary Angela Rayner was very strong on social housing.
“That is why we have today translated our golden rules into policy, meaning that development on green belt will need to target at least 50% of the homes on site as being affordable…”
– Angela Rayner, Housing Secretary, House of Commons, 30 July 2024
Photo left: Kneeling to Black Lives Matter – Click to enlarge.
Below we show the long-term picture. Ms Rayner’s policies and ‘golden rules’ seem completely unrealistic and unattainable.
The Rt Hon David Jones, former Conservative cabinet minister, now Reform UK,
commented exclusively to GB News, Stand for our Sovereignty and Facts4EU
“The Government’s own official figures, revealed in this exceptionally strong and important report from Facts4EU, illustrate the stark truth that Britain is experiencing population growth on a scale that is simply incompatible with any realistic housing strategy. No country can sensibly admit people at historically exceptional levels while failing to provide the homes and infrastructure needed to support both new arrivals and the existing population.
“The starting point must therefore be to bring both legal and illegal immigration rigorously under control. Unless we do that, every attempt to solve the housing crisis will be overwhelmed by ever-increasing demand. That is the unavoidable message of the Government’s own statistics.
“Unless ministers are prepared to address that fundamental issue, they will continue to fail a generation of young people who simply want the chance to have a decent home of their own.”
One of the first policies Andy Burnham announced is to end homelessness
Last week, the new PM’s major policy announcement was to end homelessness in some years’ time. He has provided no detail of how he will achieve this. Rough sleeping is the responsibility of local authorities and the question is how much more they are going to be helped with taxpayer money.
He also said nothing about the number of families in temporary, local authority-supplied accommodation. This a problem that can only be solved by building more homes. There then remains the issue of people being unable to afford any home that can be found for them.
83% of households in a new social letting in 2024/25 received some form of housing-related benefit. 57% of households received the Universal Credit housing element and 26% received Housing Benefit.
Nearly 3 million left the UK permanently in the last 5 years
Even if the government achieved its target of 370,000 new builds each year, which it shows no sign of doing, this would not reduce the backlog. Since 2022 the main driver of population growth has been immigration, while natural growth in population is now going negative. The reason the net increase in population isn’t even higher is because of the number of people leaving the country.
According to the Office for National Statistics, nearly three million people (2,903,000) left the UK permanently in the five years to Dec 2025. More than 1.2 million (1,238,000) of these were British.
Some of the key impacts of legal and illegal immigration on the indigenous population
Newly-returned to the cabinet by Andy Burnham, Angela Rayner is now sounding less sure of herself on her housing promises.
In a BBC interview last Friday she said:
“That commitment was very challenging before when I came into government…. But I’m not dropping it. I’m just saying that it is a really difficult stretch target.”
– Angela Rayner, BBC interview, 24 July 2026
Photo right: A ‘selfie’ from Angela Rayner, at a gala on 11 July.
The British people have been told for years by successive governments that immigration is a good thing for a wide variety of reasons, including cultural diversity, filling vacancies in the public sector, doing jobs British people won’t do, and much else. Only recently has it been possible to throw some light on possible negative consequences without being called “racist”.
Apart from the effect on housing, these other impacts include the effects on jobs, wages, the welfare budget, utilities (water, power), schooling, the health service, crime, policing, prisons, transport, and much more. Facts4EU and GB News will soon be publishing more of the facts on these other high-impact areas caused by excessive and continuing immigration.
Lord Redwood commented exclusively to us again
“Angela Rayner calls her self-imposed target of 1.5 m new homes in 5 years “challenging”. She should come clean and admit it is pie in the sky. In the first two years of this government housing completions have fallen, not risen. They are running at under half the rate required. She now needs to get the rate up to 350,000 a year.
“High energy costs and carbon taxes have driven building materials prices to new highs. The jobs tax has made site labour costs dearer. No wonder so many voters now find new homes unaffordable. Builders have to go slow on building because there are not enough buyers.”
“Facts4EU’s charts show how unrealistic that is. She is doing nothing to get high mortgage rates down. Interest rates have been driven much higher by this government as its overspending alarms the lending markets.
Observations
For years the British public have been ignored on the subject of immigration. Westminster’s promises have proved to be empty words for the most part and the problems have escalated. Does anyone remember David Cameron pledging to bring immigration down to “the tens of thousands”? That was over 10 years ago yet the annual numbers remain in six figures. Its impact on so many facets of life has been profound.
In this report we have focused on one of these: the housing crisis. Stand for Our Sovereignty has data on all the other impacts, which prove that the British public have been right all along. Sadly, the measures needed to correct this are now extreme. We would like to know if readers would be interested in more reports on the subject of immigration, giving the true, official facts. You can write to us here or leave a message in the ‘Comments’ section below.
Please, please help us to carry on our vital work in defence of independence, sovereignty, democracy and freedom by donating today to our research-engine: Facts4EU.Org or becoming a Member of Stand for Our Sovereignty. Thank you.
Please support our work
If more patriotic members of the public donate, we will keep going.
Please donate today to our research partner, Facts4eu, if you would like to continue reading us tomorrow, next week, and the weeks after.