Net immigration to the UK rose by more than 20 per cent last year to 237,000, according to Government figures released today.

The Office of National Statistics said the number was up by 47,000 on 2006 - but said this was because of a fall in the number of people moving out of the UK.

The estimated number of people arriving to live in the UK for 12 months or more in fact fell from 591,000 in 2006 to 577,000 in 2007 - but over the same period the number of people leaving the country fell more sharply - from 400,000 to 340,000.

Today’s figures mean that immigrants have added more than 1.8 million to the population since Labour came to power in 1997, when net immigration stood at 50,000.

Phil Woolas, the Immigration Minister, has said the population should not exceed 70 million.

Last year the population stood at just under 61 million and the Tories have called for a cap on the number of people from outside the EU who are allowed to move to the UK.

Net immigration figures are not yet available for 2008 but asylum figures show applications on the rise.

Between July and September this year the number of people applying for asylum rose by 12 per cent from the same period last year – the fifth consecutive quarter to show a year-on-year increase.

There were 6,620 applications, compared with 5,885 in the same quarter last year.

Over the 12 months to the end of September, there were 25,800 asylum applications, a 15 per cent rise on the numbers for the preceding 12 months.

But there has also been a rise in the number of people removed from the UK, with more than 17,500 ejected between July and September, up 9 per cent on the same period last year. This includes a 14 per cent increase in "non-asylum removals", a group which includes foreign prisoners – and Mr Woolas said that the Government was succeeding in its strategy of removing the "most harmful" people first.

He stressed that net immigration rose last year only because of a fall in people leaving the country.

The number of people entering the UK on work permits would have fallen by 12 per cent if a new element of the points-based system for assessing would-be immigrants had been in force last year, he added.

“These figures predate our huge shake-up to the immigration system,” he said.

“Centre stage is our points system which means only those we need - and no more - can come here to work and study and gives us the flexibility to raise or lower the bar according to the needs of the labour market and the country as a whole."

Today's figures also suggest that immigration from Eastern Europe is on the decline again after rising dramatically following the expansion of the EU in 2004, Mr Woolas noted.

Work applications from Eastern Europeans have fallen this year to their lowest level since 2004, according to Home Office data, and the minister claimed research indicated that half of those who had come to work in the UK following expansion had now gone home again.

Applications from the eight 2004 accession states - including Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic - fell by 36 per cent in the third quarter on the same period last year, while from Romania and Bulgaria, which joined only last year, work applications fell by 31 per cent.

However the Conservatives said that the net immigration figures showed the Government was losing control. Shadow home secretary Dominic Grieve said: “Immigration can be of real benefit to the country but only if it is properly controlled."

“These figures betray a Government that has completely lost control over the last 10 years. This chaos is likely to increase as the Home Secretary and new Immigration Minister continue to be at loggerheads over Government policy.

“The Government should stop squabbling and adopt our policies of an annual limit on non-EU immigration, transitional controls on future EU immigration and establishing a dedicated UK border police force.”

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