The ONS said that 189,000 EU citizens came looking for work, including 21,000 Romanians and Bulgarians Times Newspapers LtdImmigration reached its highest annual level in the run up to the Brexit referendum, according to official figures published this morning. The latest figures from the Office for National Statistics show net migration — the difference between those arriving and those leaving for more than a year — was 335,000, more than three times the government target of 100,000. Net migration in the year to June dipped by 1,000 compared with the previous year but ONS statisticans said that the change was not statistically significant. The figures show that immigration from the EU hit a record 284,000 while numbers coming from elsewhere, which the government has some ability to control, also rose by about 1,000 to 289,000. Nicola White, head of international migration statistics at…

Source: The Times December 01, 2016 12:08 UTC