A new report has revealed that as many as one in 12 people in London are illegal immigrants, a finding described as “deeply alarming.”
The previously confidential report found that nearly 600,000 people live in the nation’s capital without the right to be in Britain, although the Home Office does not provide official figures on the scale of the problem.
The figure—approximately 585,000 in London—came to light after a study for Thames Water was uncovered by The Telegraph through freedom of information-style laws for the environment. The report estimates that there are more than one million illegal migrants in the UK as a whole, with 60 percent residing in the capital. Migration experts have warned that the numbers could be even higher, as some of the underlying data dates back to 2017, before immigration—both legal and illegal—soared under the former Conservative Government.
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp, who served in the said Government, called the figures “deeply alarming” and urged Labour to ramp up its deportations. In a veiled swipe at the ECHR, Philp added, “It is totally unacceptable to have these numbers of illegal immigrants in the UK. The law needs to be looked at so that spurious human rights, modern slavery, and asylum claims cannot be used to delay or prevent removals of illegal immigrants.”
This sentiment was echoed by Reform UK’s migration hardliner MP Rupert Lowe, who said that “mass deportations” are now required.
