U.K. Immigration Eases in 2007 as Fewer East Europeans Arrive

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Immigration into the U.K. eased in 2007 as fewer people arrived from eastern Europe and Prime MinisterGordon Brown 's government strengthened border controls.

The number of people coming to live in the U.K. fell 8.9 percent to 577,000 last year, the Office for National Statistics said. Separate Home Office figures show the number from the eight eastern European nations including Poland that joined the European Union in 2004 dropped for a fourth consecutive quarter.

Britain's labor market is weakening as the recession deepens, reducing demand for imported workers. The government also is working to curb migration after record numbers arrived since 2004, putting a strain on schools, hospitals and police.

``Our borders are tougher than ever,'' said Immigration MinisterPhil Woolas . ``The huge shakeup we have made to the immigration system is paying off.''

The number of British residents moving abroad fell 15 percent to 340,000 last year. Net immigration rose 46,000 to 237,000, near the record of 240,000 in 2004. The government estimates the population will swell about 190,000 a year over the long-term as a result of immigration.

Opposition lawmakers said the figures remain too high. The number of people applying for political asylum rose 16 percent in the third quarter to 6,600, the most since the final three months of 2007.

The government handed out a record 733,090 national insurance numbers to foreign workers last year, up 4 percent from 2006.

Conservative View

``These figures betray a government that has completely lost control over the last 10 years,'' saidDominic Grieve , who speaks for the Conservatives on the matter. ``This chaos is likely to increase as the home secretary and new immigration minister continue to be at loggerheads over government policy.''

Woolas said the government removed 17,525 people in the third quarter, up 9 percent from a year ago and the most for the quarter since 2002.

He also noted the decline in the number of people arriving from eastern Europe, which accounted for almost half of those coming to work in the U.K.

Worker registrations from the region fell 36 percent to 38,000 from a year ago, when the figure peaked at 57,310. It totaled 210,800 last year, down 7.4 percent from 2006.

The government this year is phasing in a points-based immigration system based on methods used in Australia to limit population growth. The measures give credit for education and work experience and mark the biggest changes to U.K. border controls since the 1950s.

Fewer Work Permits

Woolas estimates that the number of work permits issued would be 12 percent less this year under the new system.

``The number of people coming in, in gross terms, fell,'' saidMichael Ellam , a spokesman for the prime minister. ``The figures apply to a period before the points-based system came into effect.''

The number of people granted permanent settlement in the U.K., allowing them to remain indefinitely in the country, fell 3 percent in the third quarter to 34,430. The figure has fallen in each of the past three quarters from 40,635 in the first quarter of this year.

The number of citizenship applications also fell for a third consecutive quarter to 35,700 in the three months through September from 43,500 in the first quarter.

``The penny has finally dropped in government circles that immigration is having a huge impact on our population,'' said Andrew Green, chairman of Migration Watch, an anti-immigration lobby group. ``Successive government smokescreens are blown away by the cool wind of logic.''

To contact the reporter on this story: Reed Landberg in London at landberg@bloomberg.net.