London, May 26 (IANS) Over six lakh people migrated into Britain in 2015, more than twice the number who left the country, figures published here on Thursday by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed.
The figures revealed that 630,000 people arrived in Britain during the year, and 297,000 left - a net migration figure of 330,000, Xinhua news agency reported.
The figures were immediately pounced on by both former London mayor Boris Johnson and the UK Independence Party.
The UKIP's Nigel Farrage said the figures demonstrate that immigration is "out of control", saying "mass immigration is still hopelessly out of control and set to get worse if we remain inside the EU".
Johnson said in a statement: "Last year, 270,000 people came to this country from the EU and net migration was 184,000. That means we are adding a population the size of Oxford to the UK every year just from EU migration.
"Since 2004, 1.25 million people have been added to the population due to EU migration. That is bigger than the city of Birmingham," he said.
"People have every right to question why we can't control our borders. We need to answer those concerns by taking back control of those borders."
ONS net figures are reached by looking at people arriving and staying for at least a year, and deducting the numbers leaving Britain.
