Sunak is under pressure to act as the UK's net migration figures for 2022 hit a record high

abcnews.go.com:

U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is facing heavy pressure from his own Conservatives to take swift action to bring down migration as new data showed net migration numbers were higher than previously thought

LONDON — U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak faced heavy pressure from his own Conservatives to take swift action to bring down migration, as new data published Thursday showed net migration numbers were higher than previously thought.

The Office for National Statistics revised its estimates for net migration to the U.K. — meaning that the number of people arriving minus those leaving — in the year to December 2022 to 745,000. That is a new record and significantly higher than the previous estimate of 606,000 for the same period.

The more hard-line wing of the Tories called for Sunak to “act now” as a general election looms next year.

“The word ‘existential’ has been used a lot in recent days but this really is ‘do or die’ for our party,” said a statement by a group of lawmakers known as the “New Conservatives.” “Each of us made a promise to the electorate. We don’t believe that such promises can be ignored."

The Conservatives were reelected in 2019 on the back of a manifesto to “take back our borders" and break away from the constraints of the European Union.

Migration continues to be a political hot potato, although Sunak's government has focused less on legal migration than the issue of unauthorized asylum-seekers arriving on small boats across the English Channel.

The latest figures do show that net migration in the 12 months up to June 2023 was 672,000. The Office for National Statistics said that it was too early to tell if that's the start of a new downward trend.

Sunak's office at Downing Street said that net