A previously confidential report has found that up to 585,000 people living in London is an illegal migrant, with more than 1 million illegally in the UK as a whole.
The report, commissioned by Thames Water and obtained by The Telegraph under freedom of information, indicated that 1 in 12 of those living in Britain’s capital are illegal immigrants.
No official figures are provided by the Home Office on estimates of the number of people illegally living in the UK, and the report suggests that some ma have arrived in the UK on study, work or visitor visas and then failed to leave.
Chris Philp, the shadow home secretary, said the figures in the report were “deeply alarming”, The Telegraph reported.
“Having lost control of illegal immigration over the Channel, the Labour Government must now urgently start deporting far more illegal immigrants,” he said.
“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.”
Reform UK MP Rupert Lowe said “mass deportations” are now required, while party deputy leader Richard Tice, said: “One in 12 people in London are here illegally, probably working illegally using taxpayer-funded public infrastructure and services. It is totally unacceptable.”
“It’s another reason why we need to properly control our borders.”
The report was carried out for Thames Water by Edge Analytics and Leeds University data analysts in an effort to help the water firm better understand how to meet demand for its services – and whether there were “hidden” and “transient” users.
The estimates were based on data from the London School of Economics, and Office for National Statistics – along with estimates of illegal migrants from the Pew Research Center in the US,
Researchers also used National Insurance registrations for non-EU foreign nationals over a nine-year period to estimate the number of what was described as “irregular” migrants in each London borough.
Alp Mehmet, chairman of think tank Migration Watch, told The Telegraph: “A population underestimate on this scale has colossal implications for utility and local authority planning. Utilities, housing, the NHS, GP surgeries and schools will all come under severe pressure, further risking community cohesion.”
For the whole of London, it produced a range of 390,355 illegal migrants at its lowest to 585,533 at its highest, with a median figure of 487,944. With an estimated population of 7,044,667, that would mean up to one in 12 of the capital’s population is an illegal migrant.
A Thames Water spokesman said: “Water companies have a regulatory obligation to undertake a ‘water balance’, which includes understanding how much water our customers use on a per-person basis, and how it is distributed across our supply area.
“Analysis to estimate ‘hidden and transient’ populations is carried out by an independent firm of consultants, who draw from publicly available sources including census, surveys, and published academic research. Thames Water played no part in the writing of the report and the conclusions drawn are those of the independent firm that carried out the research.”
A Home Office spokesman said: “This Government is strengthening global partnerships and rooting out the criminal gangs who profit from small boat crossings which threaten lives.
“We have also removed 16,400 illegal migrants in just six months, the highest figure in half a decade, making it clear that those who arrive illegally will be returned.”