Devolution (Immigration) (Scotland) Bill 2024-25
Stephen Gethins, MP for Arbroath and Broughty Ferry, has proposed a bill to devolve immigration powers to Scotland. Second reading is scheduled for 25 April 2025.

This Commons Library briefing paper is a guide to understanding UK migration statistics. It explains the concepts and methods used in measuring migration and sets out a range of data on migration in the UK and in European Union countries.
Migration statistics (717 KB , PDF)
There are two main ways of looking at the scale of international migration:
The latest estimates on migration from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) suggest that in 2023:
The latest ONS population estimates for the whole of the UK suggest that, in the year ending June 2021, there were:
A more recent, ad hoc estimate by the ON indicated that, as of June 2023, there were around 11.4 million non-UK-born residents of England and Wales, including 3.4 million EU-born and 8.0 million non-EU born. This was equivalent to around 18% of the England and Wales population.
As of 2019, there were around 994,000 UK nationals living in EU countries, excluding Ireland.
The number of people migrating to the UK has been greater than the number emigrating in each year since 1994. Before then, immigration and emigration were roughly in balance, with net migration slightly decreasing the population in most years. Over the last twenty-five years, both immigration and emigration have increased to historically high levels, with immigration exceeding emigration by more than 100,000 in every year between 1998 and 2020.
There was considerably less migration during the Covid-19 pandemic than in previous years. The pandemic also disrupted the way in which migration statistics are produced so the data from this period is subject to more uncertainty than usual. In 2021, immigration increased sharply and reached a level of around 1.2-1.3 million per year in 2022 and 2023.
The UK’s official migration estimates, which are produced by ONS are undergoing a transformation. The ONS aims to improve their accuracy and to do so it is trying out and refining a new methodology based on administrative data.
The latest estimates use a new methodology which has been backdated to 2012. Estimates from before and after this date are not fully comparable. The new estimates are classed as experimental and are likely to be revised as the method is honed.
This briefing explains the concepts and methods used in measuring migration. It contains current and historical data on immigration, emigration and net migration in the UK. It sets out the most recent estimates of the UK’s foreign national and foreign-born populations and includes international comparisons of migration and migrant populations in European Union countries.
Migration statistics (717 KB , PDF)
Stephen Gethins, MP for Arbroath and Broughty Ferry, has proposed a bill to devolve immigration powers to Scotland. Second reading is scheduled for 25 April 2025.
Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the UK has applied sanctions and changed rules around visas and corporate transparency to counter Russian influence.
An e-petition on suspending legal and illegal immigration to the UK (e-petition 700824) is being debated in Westminster Hall on 10 March 2025. The petition is seeking to suspend all immigration temporarily for five years. The subject for this debate has been chosen by the Petitions Committee, and the debate will be opened by Dave Robertson MP.