The question of how many illegal migrants are in Britain took centre stage during Sky News’ Immigration Debate. Reform UK claimed there are “over a million” people in the country illegally — but experts say no one knows the exact figure.
The last reliable estimates, from 2017, suggested between 700,000 and 900,000, not the 1.2 million often quoted. Small boat crossings were also contested, with politicians misfiring on numbers.
What’s clear is that more people have crossed so far this year than at this point in any previous year. Meanwhile, asylum hotels still house over 32,000 people, though numbers peaked much higher under the Conservatives.
