LONDON, May 22, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Net migration to the UK halved in 2024 to 431,000 people, the latest official figures showed Thursday, driven by tougher work and study visa restrictions.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) estimated the figure for the year at 431,000, down from 860,000 in the year to December 2023, the biggest fall in net migration since the Covid pandemic.

"Long-term net migration is down by almost 50 percent," the ONS said in its latest report adding: "we are seeing reductions in people arriving on work- and study-related visas".

It had also recorded "an increase in emigration over the 12 months to December 2024" especially by those on work and study visas.

The previous Conservative government had toughed conditions for those applying for such visas, setting higher caps on salaries and refusing people to bring their families with them.

But immigration has become a hot-button issue in UK politics, and Labour Prime Minister Keir Starmer unveiled tough new immigration policies earlier this month vowing to "finally take back control" of Britain's borders.

The measures included cutting overseas care workers, doubling the length of time before migrants can qualify for settlement and new powers to deport foreign criminals.

Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who voted for the UK to remain part of the EU, is under renewed pressure to tackle immigration following the anti-immigration Reform party's gains in recent local elections.