Half A Million Migrants To England Since 2011

More than half a million people are believed to have come to England from abroad over the past three years, according to Oxford University research.

And two-thirds of the 565,000 migrants believed to have arrived between 2011 and 2014 are EU citizens, the study by the university's Migration Observatory said.

The estimated numbers were put together to provide an up-to-date idea of the migrant populations across England.

They come in advance of official estimates from the Office for National Statistics, due in June.

London is the city which has absorbed most of the new migrants, with almost 200,000 more living in the capital than in 2011.

And behind London is the rest of the South East, with a rise of 79,000.

The North East trails behind in popularity with only 26,000 migrants choosing to relocate there.

Madeleine Sumption, Director of the Migration Observatory, said the aim of the study was to give insight ahead of the General Election.

"These data show how different local experiences of migration have been across the UK," she said.

"There are large variations in the size of migrant populations, as well as the share that come from EU countries.

"We have undertaken this analysis to provide a resource for anyone looking to understand local demographics of migration in the run-up to the General Election."

These latest figures come a week after official figures revealed net migration - the difference between people coming to the UK and those leaving - has risen from 210,000 to 298,000 over the past year.

Prime Minister David Cameron had said at the start of his premiership that he wanted to reduce the net number to "tens of thousands".

The subject of immigration is expected to be one of the key debating issues in the run-up to the General Election on 7 May.