Immigration is a great British success story – politicians should tell the truth about it

Editorial: The Conservatives ‘took back control’ of immigration policy but they will not take responsibility for the decisions they made

Anti-immigrant rhetoric undermines confidence in politicians and politics generally (PA)

Record net immigration is good news for Britain. Successful countries attract people, and successful economies need immigration to thrive. The estimates for last year in addition reflect the humanitarian generosity of the British people towards the Ukrainians as they fight for their national survival, and towards those residents of Hong Kong to whom we owe a postcolonial obligation.

In some respects, the figure for net immigration is not high enough. We have fallen short of our responsibility towards those Afghans who stood by us during our ultimately unsuccessful attempt to defend their people from reactionary theocrats. We should have wished that the figure for net immigration last year to have been at least 606,001. The heroic Afghan pilot who fought alongside our troops, and for whom The Independent is campaigning, should have been given permission to settle here.

Overall, though, the figures reflect well on the UK. Apart from the humanitarian schemes, the economy has bounced back from coronavirus, and we have filled nursing and social care vacancies from new sources outside the EU.