Population will soar to 70 million, study warns
HOME Office claims that Britain’s population will be limited to below 70 million were demolished by a new study yesterday.
Immigration Minister Phil Woolas had dismissed forecasts that nine million more people will be added to the country’s current population of 61 million within 25 years.
But research published by think-tank Migrationwatch UK showed official figures from the Office for National Statistics confirm the trend towards 70 million by the year 2031.
Mr Woolas had seized on a fall in net migration revealed last week to claim that population growth was slowing.
But MigrationwatchUK found 35,000 asylum seekers and visitors who decide to stay in Britain increased that figure. It showed that immigration was adding 153,000 people to the population every year.
The Office for National Statistics had predicted that a net migration of 130,000 a year would mean a population of 69.2 million by 2031.
Sir Andrew Green, chairman of MigrationwatchUK, said: “There are bound to be uncertainties about both birth rates and immigration but it is thoroughly irresponsible to dismiss projections that have been carefully arrived at.
“The Government is in denial about the impact of their failure to control immigration on the whole nature of our society. They must respond to intense public concern with a firm undertaking to take the measures necessary to limit the growth in population.”