Annual net migration to UK was 212,000 in final quarter of 2013

Alan Travis, home affairs editor 

The politically sensitive yardstick of net migration to Britain stood at 212,000 at the end of 2013, a rise of 35,000 over the previous year but unchanged on the previous three months, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said on Thursday.

The quarterly figure of 212,000 is more than double the 100,000 target the Conservatives set for net migration by next year's general election.

It also shows that the home secretary, Theresa May, is failing to make any further progress in meeting the target.

The detailed ONS immigration figures also confirm that there was no surge of Romanians or Bulgarians joining the British workforce when the final labour market restrictions were lifted on them in January.

The figures show that new national insurance numbers were allocated to an extra 29,000 Romanians and 7,000 Bulgarians in the 12 months to March 2014.

The ONS said only 22% of Romanian and Bulgarian registrations were for those who had arrived in the previous three months, compared with 70% of new Polish and Spanish registrations. Most of those registering were already in Britain.

The official statisticians said the available evidence so far showed that the recent increase in employment of Romanians and Bulgarians in Britain was the result of extra migration before the controls were lifted in January.

The overall figures show the level of net migration – the number of immigrants coming to live in Britain for more than 12 months minus the number leaving to live abroad for more than 12 months – was stable at 212,000 between September 2013 and December 2013.

The figures show that 526,000 came to live in Britain while 314,000 went to live abroad in 2013.

But this followed an unexpected rise in the previous three months mainly fuelled by an increase in migrants from the recession-hit southern European countries of Spain, Portugal, Italy and Greece, as well as a continuous flow from Poland.

The home secretary may breathe a small sigh of relief that the increases in net migration seen in each of the previous three quarters have not continued.

The detailed figures show that net migration to and from the European Union continued to rise in the last three months of 2013 at 124,000 – a rise of 42,000 over the previous year. Increases were seen particularly in the number of Italians and Poles coming to Britain.

However, the figures show that the government's squeeze on immigration from outside the European Union is continuing to bite. Net migration from the rest of the world fell to 146,000 in 2013, down 11,000 on the previous year and the lowest level for 10 years.

The biggest falls have been seen in the number of students coming to further education colleges, down 31% in the past year, and the number of migrants, including spouses, coming to join family members in Britain – which has fallen by 51% since 2007. The ONS said the number coming to study from Commonwealth countries such as India and Pakistan had fallen from 100,000 to 35,000 in the past three years.

The immigration minister, James Brokenshire, said: "While recent net migration levels remain stable the figures show that it has fallen by a third since its peak in 2005 under the last government and that this government's reforms have cut net migration from outside the EU to levels not seen since the late 1990s.

"Our controls on accessing benefits and services, including the NHS and social housing, are among the tightest in Europe. We are focusing on cutting out the abuse of free movement between EU member states and addressing the factors that drive European immigration to Britain. The Immigration Act will limit the benefits and services illegal migrants can access and make it easier to remove those with no right to be here, by reducing the number of appeals."

The shadow home secretary, Yvette Cooper, said the Conservatives' flagship immigration pledge was in shreds. "They promised 'no ifs, no buts' to get their net migration target down to the tens of thousands by the end of the parliament, and the actual figure is over twice that," she said.

"By making such loud promises and failing to meet them, Theresa May and David Cameron have further eroded trust on immigration and undermined confidence in a government's ability to address people's concerns.

"Just 18 months ago the home secretary claimed she would meet her target. Just a week ago the prime minister claimed meeting the target was 'perfectly feasible'. But they have no policies to deliver it and the public know there is a huge gap between Tory rhetoric and the reality."

The business organisation London First accused the government of hypocrisy over its 'arbitrary' target. "Again we have been shown it is EU migrants that are driving immigration numbers and there is nothing we can do about that," said London First's Mark Hilton. "Meanwhile George Osborne claims it is the 'left and the populist right' who want 'pull up the drawbridge and shut Britain off from the world', when the immigration target sends out precisely this message. They are cultivating a reputation of the UK as a place where the high-skilled talent we need, and the foreign students who flock to our universities, are unwelcome."

Guardian