East Europeans still flocking to UK

More eastern Europeans are settling in Britain than departing despite a sharp increase in the numbers of migrants returning home, an official report revealed today.

Figures released by the Office for National Statistics show that the number of Poles and other eastern European citizens leaving the country more than doubled over the year to the end of last September with a total of 56,000 departures. But the number of eastern Europeans settling in Britain for at least a year edged up slightly to 100,000.

The new figures, which also show that long-term immigration has remained stable over the past two years with an average annual influx of more than 500,000 British and overseas citizens, will fuel the debate about the impact of the recession on migration trends.

The Left-leaning Institute of Public Policy Research said: "The great influx of Eastern Europeans of the last five years is tailing off dramatically and the number leaving has doubled in the last year. All this shows that migration provides useful flexibility in the labour market, especially in tough economic times."

But Damian Green, the shadow immigration minister, said: "The idea that lots of Eastern Europeans are going to depart because of the recession is not borne out by these figures."