Two million Britons emigrate in 10 years

Two million British citizens have left the UK in a decade, the greatest exodus from this country in almost a century, new figures will show.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) will release figures showing that more than 200,000 Britons emigrated during 2006. That will take the total number who left the country between 1997 and 2006 to 1.97 million.

Another 1.58 million foreign nationals resident in Britain left during the same period. However, 3.9 million foreigners arrived over the decade, including more than 500,000 in 2006.

The body will publish the raft of immigration figures on Tuesday, as MPs prepare to dismiss the national statisticians’ data as “not fit for purpose” and demand an overhaul of the way population movements are measured.

On Thursday, the Treasury sub-committee of the House of Commons will conclude that the lack of reliable and up-to-date figures for immigrant populations is hampering Government policy both nationally and locally.

ONS figures only go back to 1991, but some historians say the departure of two million Britons in a decade is almost unparalleled in the country’s history.

According to figures compiled by Jay Winter, of Yale University, the last comparable exodus came between 1911 and 1914, when 2.4 million people left Britain. The other significant spike in emigration came in the late 1950s and early 1960s, when thousands of Britons left to start new lives in Australia, Canada and the United States.

The Institute for Public Policy Research, a think-tank, has estimated that there are more than 5.5 million British citizens living abroad.

Jill Rutter, a senior migration researcher at the IPPR, said the recent exodus marked “probably the greatest period of emigration we’ve ever seen”.

She said: “A lot of this is people retiring abroad, which is a relatively new phenomenon and is only possible because we are all better off.

“There is also a much more internationalised labour market and workforce — it is now quite commonplace for people to go abroad to work for a year or more.” Immigrants who come to this country, gain citizenship and then leave also add to the total of British emigrants.

Opposition parties say that some emigrants have been driven out of Britain by its high levels of crime and taxation.

“This explosion in emigration is inevitably a reflection of the state of the country under a Labour government,” said David Davis, the shadow home secretary.

Source: Two million Britons emigrate in 10 years - Telegraph
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Interesting. My parents moved to Australia, mostly because my mother much prefered the climate.

Also you mean Britains not Britons unless you are talking about stone/brone/iron age or Romano-British(who are actually the our main ancestors in England and the Celtic fringe.).
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Originally Posted by BonnieDundee:
Also you mean Britains not Britons unless you are talking about stone/brone/iron age or Romano-British(who are actually the our main ancestors in England and the Celtic fringe.).

Dude, your incorrect pseudo-intellectual ramblings are becoming tiresome. Give it a rest, eh?
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Im sure some of that chunk of people emigrating are Afro-Caribbeans and Asians who also feel this country wasnt like the country their ancestors came to 60 years ago.
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Originally Posted by Tashry:
Im sure some of that chunk of people emigrating are Afro-Caribbeans and Asians who also feel this country wasnt like the country their ancestors came to 60 years ago.

Wasn't there a story a couple weeks back about illegal immigrants trying to sneak out? Everyone is getting fed up with the place.
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I'm not surprise about the amount of Emigration! In fact in this day of modern travel I'm surprised it's not more. Some of it may be down to disillusionment with the amount of immigration, but I think a lot of it is to do with people just wishing to expand their horizons!
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Originally Posted by kernow:
Some of it may be down to disillusionment with the amount of immigration, but I think a lot of it is to do with people just wishing to expand their horizons!

I rather think the immigrants are getting scapegoated a little here. Obviously, some folks will have moved out because of immigrant culture changing the landscape, but I think that a majority will have moved for money/tax/crime reasons.
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I spend the majority of the year outside of the country either working or living abroad. I'm lucky in that my profession allows me the luxury of this. I've met a lot of fellow English and Scottish folk who have moved away from home for the same reasons. These reasons mainly come down to the fact that crime is awful in some parts of our urbanised areas, parts of the country have become absolute dumps, the government taxes those who work hard into the ground(unless you can pull yourself up above a certain level i.e. investment banking wages/bonuses you get screwed by IR35 etc.) and a plethora of other reasons.

I'd never think of setting up a permanent base in England until the whole ruling clique made up of Labour etc. are destroyed. I will however happily come home to vote when elections are on to get rid of the ********, and will donate money to parties who I believe are fighting the cause.
If every expat gave a pound to an anti-EU party of their choice e.g. the ED's, FEP, UKIP, Liberals, Libertarians etc. we'd have enough cash to take on the major parties!

Ea of dune
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Originally Posted by Tashry:
Im sure some of that chunk of people emigrating are Afro-Caribbeans and Asians who also feel this country wasnt like the country their ancestors came to 60 years ago.

I bet they do.
60 years ago they would have got a good kicking for walking up the street with a White girl or being in the wrong area after dark.
Today they must think they are in paradise.
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Originally Posted by BonnieDundee:
Interesting. My parents moved to Australia, mostly because my mother much prefered the climate.

Also you mean Britains not Britons unless you are talking about stone/brone/iron age or Romano-British(who are actually the our main ancestors in England and the Celtic fringe.).

My uncle left England for Australia in the 1960's because of coloured immigration yet he complains now that Australia is going the same way.
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