Non-EU workers overtake number of EU workers in Britain for the first time since 2010 amid Brexit

Non-EU workers have overtaken the number of EU workers in Britain as a side-effect of Brexit.

There were 2,556,741 non-EU workers in the UK at the end of December, compared with 2,332,476 EU workers, data from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) shows.

EU workers were overtaken as the largest group in June last year for the first time since 2010.

A surge in EU workers was seen in the years after the European Union expanded to include Poland and seven other eastern European countries in 2004, and added Romania and Bulgaria three years later.

But the HMRC figures show how in the last four years the UK’s labour market has increasingly looked to workers from outside the bloc following the post-Brexit end of free movement rules.

There were 2,556,741 non-EU workers in the UK at the end of December, compared with 2,332,476 EU workers, data from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) shows. Stock image of warehouse worker

The number of EU workers peaked in November 2019, according to the HMRC data. In the same month there were 1.9million non-EU workers here.

Since then, the number of non-EU workers has soared by more than 637,000 while the number of EU workers has dropped by 170,000.

Separate data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) labour force survey shows non-EU workers were the larger group until 2010, when they were overtaken by EU workers in the wake of EU expansion.

Director of Oxford University’s Migration Observatory, Madeleine Sumption, said: ‘It’s quite a striking development, taking place in just a few years.’

Some employment sectors have already seen non-EU staff overtake the number of EU employees, including hospitality.

In the year to March this year, 740,075 work visas were issued to non-EU nationals – including temporary visas – compared with 46,457 for EU nationals.. The figures do not include family members who may have travelled to Britain with the workers.