Immigration is back at the top of the national agenda, but in South London it is not just a Westminster talking point. For many residents, it is part of the daily reality shaped by housing shortages, busy schools, stretched NHS services and the wider cost-of-living squeeze.
The government says it wants to “restore control” to the immigration system and has already set out a series of tougher measures. Its 2025 Immigration White Paper included plans to raise skills thresholds for some work visas, tighten English language rules, end overseas recruitment through the social care visa route and lengthen the path to settlement. Further rule changes followed in March 2026, including higher English language requirements for some settlement applicants and restrictions affecting certain visa routes.
Those changes come against a backdrop of intense pressure on the asylum system. BBC reporting showed a record 111,000 asylum applications in the year to June 2025, while a later update said the asylum appeal backlog had risen to 123,194 cases by June 2026. Reuters also reported that more than 32,000 asylum seekers were being housed in hotels in Britain at the end of June 2025, a figure that has become politically explosive.
For London, the issue lands especially hard. Migration Observatory research shows that around 47% of all foreign-born residents in the UK lived in London and the South East at the time of the 2021/22 Census, while other research found migrants made up just over 40% of London’s population in 2021. That means immigration is not a remote policy debate for local readers: it affects classrooms, GP surgeries, train services and the availability of workers across the city.
South London is also home to communities that rely on migration in different ways. Many local businesses depend on overseas workers, while the NHS and care sector have long recruited staff from abroad. Ministers argue that Britain should reduce reliance on migration by training more home-grown workers, but critics say the system still needs migrants to keep key services running.
