Coalition reveals immigration dip

Net immigration to the UK remains above 250,000 a year despite a small fall since the coalition government took over, according to the latest independent figures.

Prime Minister David Cameron and Home Secretary Theresa May want to cut the number to under 100,000 by the end of the parliament in 2015.

But the Office for National Statistics estimated net migration to Britain – the number arriving minus those leaving – in the year to September 2011 was 252,000, down only 3,000 year on year. Long-term immigration fell from 600,000 to 589,000 – similar to the level it has been at since 2004 – while emigration also dipped from 345,000 to 338,000.

Of those coming to Britain, 250,000 did so to study.