Net migration into Britain surged to 333,000 last year - up 20,000 on 2014, new figures released today reveal.
Of these 308,000 people immigrated for work, an increase of 30,000 from the previous year and the highest estimate on record.
Just under 60 per cent had a definite job to go but 42 per cent arrived looking for work – a statistically significant increase from 104,000 the previous year.
The figures also suggest that the rise in net migration, came from EU nationals while migration from other countries fell – although statisticians warned that the numbers were too small to be significant.
None the less, the Office for National Statistics data is politically significant and will spark a fierce debate between those campaigning to stay in the EU and those calling for a vote to leave.
One prominent Tory MP labelled the EU a "job transfer machine", claiming EU migrants are taking jobs which could be going to British workers.
Boris Johnson said the only way to bring net migration down was to leave the EU.
“What is happening at the moment is being done completely without the consent of the British people,” he said.
“They voted (at the last election) to bring net migration down and we have just heard it is going up every year. For me this is about democracy. The only was to achieve that (bring migration down) is to take back control and vote leave.”
But Remain supporter Lord Blunkett said that EU co-operation is the only "rational" way of managing migration.
The ONS said the small rise in net migration – the difference between the number of people leaving Britain and the numbers of people coming in – was not statistically significant.
But the statistics watchdog also released figures showing that in 2014 13 per cent, or 8.3 million, of the UK resident population were born outside the UK. This has risen from 9 per cent, or 5.3 million, in 2004.
The figures also showed a big rise in short term migration – of people coming to live in the UK for less than a year.
In the year to June 2014 there were 165,000 short-term immigrants, compared with 122,000 in the year to June 2013.
Latest employment statistics from the Labour Force Survey show the estimated employment level of EU nationals (excluding British) living in the UK was 2.1 million in January to March 2016 - 224,000 higher than the same quarter last year.
The UKIP MEP Stephen Woolfe described the figures as “staggering”.
"Britain is borderless as a member of the EU,” he said. “The sheer scale of immigration is putting our public services under severe strain and causing division and disharmony in our communities.
“We need a migration policy fit for 21st Century Britain - which satisfies the needs of our economy and our society. Unless we vote to Leave the EU we will continue to have our hands tied and have no control over who comes and who goes at our ports.”
British nationals in employment increased by 185,000 to 28.2 million and non-EU nationals in employment increased by 5,000 to 1.2 million.
Over half of the growth in employment over the last year was accounted for by foreign nationals.
Glen Watson, Deputy National Statistician for Population and Public Policy, said today’s figures on net long-term migration were “not very different to those published last quarter”.
