Fewer people are coming to the UK than many Brits seem to think (Picture: Getty Images) Last week, two big statistical releases revealed the truth about immigration to the UK – and exposed a big gap between perception and reality. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) set out its detailed overview of migration statistics for the year ending December 2025, showing long-term immigration to the UK was down 20% from the year before. And the Home Office provided a slightly more up-to-date glimpse at the immigration system for the year ending March 2026, which showed the number of visas issued for non-visit reasons – i.e. to stay longer in the country – fell from 875,000 the previous year to 779,000. But polls suggest Brits don’t believe this is the case. An online survey carried out by OnePoll in the days following these two reports showed 55% of people think the number of people coming to live in the UK has increased in the past 12 months. Meanwhile, 47% said they expected immigration to increase in the coming year with just 15% thinking it will fall – which would be in line with the current trend. Immigration remains one of the top issues for British voters, coming second only to the economy in a YouGov poll earlier this week. To try and drive down immigration further, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood introduced a raft of changes intended to make it more difficult to apply for a visa and obtain indefinite leave to remain. She has also ended the right to permanent refugee status, changing the rules so claims are reviewed every 30 months and individuals will be expected to return to their home countries if they are deemed safe. Mahmood’s plans have proved controversial among Labour figures, though party leadership hopefuls Wes Streeting and Andy Burnham are both said to back them. Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has vowed to tackle both illegal and legal immigration (Picture: Reuters) These moves, along with others introduced by the Conservatives ahead of the 2024 election, are believed to have contributed to the sharp drop in net migration after a large post-Brexit spike nicknamed the ‘Boriswave’. Net migration to the UK – meaning immigration minus emigration, which shows the amount the population has increased due to migration – peaked at 944,000 in the year ending March 2023. This came after a new points-based immigration system was introduced by Boris Johnson’s government under then-Home Secretary Priti Patel. The spike may have contributed to a lack of trust in politicians over the issue of immigration highlighted by OnePoll’s survey. It found that 40% of people would not trust politicians at all to give an accurate picture of immigration in the UK, while just 3% said they would trust them ‘a great deal’. The latest quarterly statistics from the ONS show the net migration figure had fallen to 171,000 in the year ending December 2025, a decrease of almost 50% on the year before. Responding to the latest numbers, Mahmood said: ‘We will always welcome those who contribute to this country and wish to build a better life here. But we must restore order and control to our borders. ‘As these statistics show, real progress has been made, but there is still work to do. ‘That is why I am introducing a skills-based migration system that rewards contribution and ends Britain’s reliance on cheap overseas workers.’ Cut through the political noise with our weekly newsletter Hello, I’m Craig Munro and I’m Metro‘s man in Westminster. Every Wednesday, I write our Alright, Gov? newsletter with insights from behind the scenes in the Houses of Parliament and how the decisions made there will end up affecting your life. I have interviewed top political figures, including Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer (Picture: Craig Munro) If you want to know more about the government and how new policies affect you, sign up now. Nigel Farage has put the issue at the top of Reform’s agenda (Picture: Oli Scarff/AFP via Getty Images) While legal migration was on the rise in the first half of the 2020s, focus was also shifting to the increasing number of asylum seekers entering the country on small boats over the English Channel. Nigel Farage’s Reform UK has seized on anger over the scale of this issue to reach the top of the polls and become one of the country’s biggest political parties less than ten years after it was founded. Home Office figures show more than 8,500 people have crossed the Channel by small boat from France so far this year, down 37% on the same period in 2025. Sir Keir Starmer’s government has promised to tackle the crossings with a pledge to ‘smash the gangs’ that profit from them. Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk. For more stories like this, check our news page.