Yet Andy Burnham wants “a conversation” about restoring EU Free Movement?
PM says he wants “an evidence-based debate” – Are you sure PM? Okay, here it is…
6m EU migrant approvals from a UK net immigration total of 8.65m in last 25 years
The Prime Minister has stated he wants to have “an honest discussion” regarding the EU’s Freedom of Movement and that this must rely on “a very factual, evidence-based debate.”
Yet the official data recorded by his own Home Office provides what he needs to know factually, to dismiss this return to a divisive debate settled by the British public 10 years ago.
Forensic research of Home Office files by Stand for Our Sovereignty, in collaboration with the Brexit Facts4EU think-tank, and The Campaign for an Independent Britain (CIBUK.Org), has produced this shocking report. It has been shared exclusively with our friends at GB News.
What has the Home Office got to hide?
After our last report on this EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS) in February last year, the Home Office stopped publicly reporting some of the detailed data we used – although we’re sure they would give it to Andy Burnham. As a result – and to give readers numbers in the form of ‘applicants’ as opposed to ‘applications’, (some applicants apply numerous times) – we have therefore applied the same proportions from the Home Office data last year to bring the approximate overall total up to date.
This analysis reveals that c.6.1m people have now secured legal UK residency status. This is equivalent to over two-thirds of the estimated 8.65 million total international net migration recorded by the ONS over the past quarter of a century.
[Sources: Home Office | ONS. As the Home Office fails to track departures, we can’t say how many of these approved individuals have since left.]
The influx from the EU has systematically outpaced every single political projection. The sheer volume of EU Free Movement created a permanent transformation of the British landscape.
Summary of official statistics reveals:
- EU migrants approved account for damning ⅔rds of UK net immigration influx in last 25 years
- 8.9 million applications have had to be processed by the Home Office
- Excluding repeat applications, there have been 6.7m actual applicants
- 6.1 million of these have been approved under the scheme
- Including natural growth (births minus deaths) this is well over half the UK’s entire 10.6m population explosion since the year 2000
(All figures have been rounded.)
The official facts already available to the Prime Minister
According to the ONS, the UK population increased by an extraordinary 10,597,800 in the 25 years from 2000 to 2025 – an unprecedented rise of 18.0%. The single most significant driver behind this uncontrolled growth was the UK’s EU membership which required the UK to accept Free Movement.
Former Brexit Minister the Rt Hon David Jones (now Reform UK)
comments exclusively to GB News, Stand for Our Sovereignty and Brexit Facts4EU on this report
“The fundamental objection to EU freedom of movement was always that it deprived the British electorate and its representatives of control over immigration policy.
“Decisions about who may come to live and work in this country should be taken by ministers accountable to Parliament and the voters, not unelected European officials.”
[Sources: Home Office | ONS. As the Home Office fails to track departures, we can’t say how many of these approved individuals have since left.]
Pre-Referendum forecasts from the Remainer government of Messrs Cameron and Osborne assured the public that “only” around 3m EU citizens resided in the UK.
The reality from the Home Office paints a very different picture. By 30 June 2021 – the official EU Settlement Scheme deadline – applications had already breached 6m (6,046,665). This was double the figure presented by the Remain campaign during the Referendum. But it didn’t stop there…
Rt Hon Lord Redwood D.Phil FCSI, former Single Market Minister and former Secretary of State
commented exclusively to GB News, Stand for Our Sovereignty, and the Brexit Facts4EU think-tank
“Only Facts4EU will look up the crucial numbers to correct the public debate in a fundamental way.
“Because there was a surge of non-EU migrants to the UK after Brexit it has become accepted that non-EU migration has been our main problem.
“It is true the combination of special schemes for people from Hong Kong, Ukraine and a misguided care worker plan produced a surge.
“Meanwhile millions of people from the EU have been welcomed and been given residence and working rights. The totals are large and greatly exceed the non-EU numbers which we have always been able to control if we wished. The public is so angry about the scale of this migration without thought of its impact ln communities.”
It continues, Prime Minister…
Today, the numbers have marched relentlessly on. The latest official figures from the Home Office reveal that cumulative applications have now reached the shocking figure of nearly 9 million (8,941,726). The transition programme intended to wind down EU rights instead triggered an expansive conveyor belt of mass immigration.
For years, the sheer velocity of these applications overwhelmed Whitehall. In the first nine months following the scheme’s launch in 2019, the Home Office was deluged with over 2.5 million (2,531,542) files. Caseworkers were forced to process an average of 13,000 applications every single working day. The workload exceeded historic proportions.
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This goes on and on…
One myth of the post-Brexit landscape is that EU immigration closed on a fixed date. However, five years after the deadline supposedly passed, the door remains wide open. Millions of applications (2,895,061 – or 1,509,639 if we exclude repeat applications) have been submitted completely post-deadline.
The administrative machinery designed by Theresa May and Ollie Robbins continues to churn out permanent residency rights – under the radar.
The authorities have been forced to receive, log, assess, and ultimately approve a historic volume of entries. The long-term fiscal and social consequences of this system are only now becoming clear. The numbers speak for themselves, and the conveyor belt shows no sign of stopping.
FThe Rt Hon David Jones, former Brexit Minister and now with Reform UK,
commented exclusively to GB News, Stand for Our Sovereignty and the Brexit Facts4EU think-tank
“Successive governments’ failure to use our recovered powers effectively is no argument for handing them back to Brussels. It is an argument for exercising them properly, with migration policy taking full account of housing, public services, infrastructure and the needs of our economy.
“We should honour the rights of EU citizens who have lawfully made their homes here.
“But restoring freedom of movement would surrender an essential power of self-government which the British people voted to recover. Andy Burnham should recognise that.”
Where all these people are coming from
Analysis of the official data shows that this influx was heavily concentrated. More than half of all applications from EU nationals originated from just three member states.
Romania tops the table, accounting for a massive total of over 1.4m (1,424,187) applications approved.
Poland and Italy follow closely behind. It is a statistical reality that nations with historically high unemployment feature most prominently. However, citizens from the EU’s largest economic engines also show strongly, such as France, Germany, and Spain.
Note: The Home Office no longer records unique applicants, only applications.
The continued shortcomings of the Home Office
The cumulative applications headline tracks total submissions rather than unique individuals. More than 1.5 million people have applied multiple times. In addition the system records every transition from pre-settled to full settled status as a brand-new application.
The most extraordinary development is the introduction of a new automated processing pipeline. The Home Office now relies on computer algorithms to scan continuous tax and benefits records. If the criteria are met, the software automatically upgrades the individual to settled status. It operates entirely behind the scenes without manual caseworker audits.
The raw data confirms that 115,770 automated grants have been executed since this software was deployed. 78,210 of these occurred within the last reporting year ending June 2026.
The Rt Hon the Lord Redwood D.Phil FCSI gave us his final comments
“Many people who voted for Brexit voted to take back control of our borders. Most were alarmed by the impact of so many people coming to live here when we were already short of homes, jobs and health care.
“The voters were not hostile to individuals from EU countries, but worried we could not cope with the numbers.
“Facts4EU show how right voters were to see migration was way beyond our capacity to cope. No wonder public spending and borrowing have soared, as government scrambles to provide all the extra services and buildings needed to try to catch up.
“We are not short of people. We are short of homes and jobs. Negotiating to restore Free Movement and many more EU migrants flies in the face of the Brexit vote. It would intensify our problems with finding jobs and homes for the many already here.”
Postscript: The hidden deluge of ‘Family Joiners’
Very shortly we hope to bring readers one more glimpse into the reality of mass immigration from the EU. This relates to a still open-ended part of what the EU inflicted on the UK and is not to be missed. We would very much welcome donations to this project and we will publish the sponsors’ names if they wish (or respect their wish to stay anonymous).
To conclude this report, it must be said that if the shocking numbers above are possible, five years after the UK left the EU, why is Andy Burnham even saying that he will contemplate a return to full, Free Movement from the EU, or even discussing the ‘Youth Mobility Scheme’ at the 20 November Summit, which would allow all EU citizens under 30 years old to enter?
Observations
It is only in the last few years that some of the mainstream media have started covering immigration in any serious way. Even then, where have you seen official data like that above?
This report provides the official information for the “very factual, evidence-based debate” about Freedom of Movement which Andy Burnham says he wants. It shows without any doubt how the UK has experienced a huge influx from (mostly poorer) countries in the EU. The PM may think this a good thing, but perhaps some readers will beg to differ.
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.
[ Sources: The Home Office | ONS ] Politicians and journalists can contact us for details, as ever.