Fact check: Net migration and ‘paint in cereal’ claims

This roundup of claims has been compiled by Full Fact, the UK’s largest fact checking charity working to find, expose and counter the harms of bad information.

How many migrants come to the UK?

Immigration has consistently been one of the most debated topics in UK politics in recent years—and in recent weeks too, after violent anti-migrant protests. But we often see confusion and conflicting claims over what the figures actually show.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) currently publishes estimates of long-term international immigration to, and emigration from, the UK based on administrative data.

Subtracting the number of emigrants from the number of immigrants over a given period produces a figure for “net migration”.

The ONS defines a “long-term international migrant” as someone who has changed their country of usual residence for a period of at least a year.

According to the most recent estimates from the ONS, around 1.2 million long-term immigrants arrived in the UK in 2023 and emigration totalled 532,000, meaning net migration to the UK was estimated to be 685,000.

This represents a 10% fall compared to 2022, when net migration to the UK was the highest on record at 764,000.

But net migration in 2023 was still nearly four times higher than in 2019, when the Conservative party said in its manifesto it would bring down “overall numbers”. (We saw a number of contrasting claims about these figures ahead of the general election from Sir Keir Starmer and Rishi Sunak, which often didn’t tell the full story.)

It’s worth noting that these annual net migration estimates may be revised at a later date. For example, the initial estimate for net migration in 2022 was 606,000—substantially lower than the revised estimate.

In 2023, the vast majority of people who migrated to the UK (85%) were non-EU nationals. Ten percent were EU nationals, with the remaining 5% British nationals. The top three non-EU countries of origin were India (250,000 migrants), Nigeria (141,000) and China (90,000).

Work was the most common reason for non-EU migration in 2023, followed by coming to the UK to study. Around 8% of the non-EU nationals arrived in the UK to seek asylum.

The majority of migrants to the UK arrive here legally. However the number of migrants arriving via irregular methods (particularly by small boats) has increased considerably in recent years.

The ONS does not publish data on the proportion of migrants who arrive in the UK “legally” or “illegally”. However Home Office data shows that in 2023 there were 36,704 irregular arrivals, 80% of whom arrived on small boats.

The majority of small boat arrivals (around 90%) claim asylum in the UK, and in the year ending June 2023 these claims accounted for just over a third of asylum claims.

No, paint is not being put in cereal

A video on Facebook advises that people should not eat cereal because it contains a chemical called trisodium phosphate which is also found in paint thinner. It goes on to say “they literally are putting paint in our cereals”.

We’ve seen similar misleading claims before, with some examples circulating a decade ago.

Trisodium phosphate, or TSP, is a chemical compound that has many different applications.

It is used as a food additive and can be found in various food products, including some brands of cereal. Several food regulators have approved its use.

Trisodium phosphate can also be used in industrial manufacturing processes, and can be found in paint thinner, but there are many other additional chemicals used to make such products.

There are also other examples of substances used in foods that have industrial applications, such as sodium bicarbonate (or baking soda).