Net migration to the UK hit a record high of nearly one million last year, revised official estimates show.

The difference between the number of people entering Britain and those leaving reached 906,000 in the year to June 2023, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

The figure is up 166,000 from the initial estimate of 740,000.

However, net migration has dropped 20% for the latest period to 728,000 in the year to June 2024.

Some 1.2 million people are estimated to have arrived in the UK in the latest period, while 479,000 are likely to have left.

This compares with 1.3 million who arrived in the UK in the year to June 2023 and 414,000 who left.

Shadow home secretary Chris Philp said: “Today’s figures confirm what we’ve been warning about: immigration remains far too high, and Labour was wrong to suspend further restrictions on family visas.

“Such high numbers place mounting pressure on housing, public services, and damage social cohesion, causing a real impact felt by communities across the UK.

“We need immediate action to enforce stricter controls on the border, get these numbers down, and put the needs of British workers and families front and center.”

The ONS said that while remaining high by “historic standards”, net migration is now “beginning to fall”.

The drop in the overall level of net migration has been driven mainly by a fall in the number of dependents arriving in the UK on study visas from outside the EU.

Migration Watch chairman Alp Mehmet said: “Net migration of 728,000, while lower than it was in 2023, is still far too high and unsustainable.

“Moreover, the modest fall has little to do with anything that Sir Keir Starmer and his Home Secretary have done.

“It is now essential that net migration is quickly reduced as close as possible to zero, if we are to avoid further tensions in the housing sector, the NHS and other services already in crisis.

“Meanwhile, the changing nature of society that inevitably follows rapid mass immigration will put the cohesion we have long enjoyed at ever greater risk.”

Labour said the latest migration figures showed the Government had started the “hard graft” of tackling the issue, and was “cleaning up the Conservatives‘ mess”.

A spokesperson for the party said: “In their own words, the Tories broke the immigration system. On their watch, net migration quadrupled in four years to a record high of nearly one million, despite saying they’d lower it to 100,000. They are an open borders party who lied time and again to the public. This is the chaos Labour inherited and any crowing from the Tories should be seen in that light.”