US Edition Britain is experiencing unprecedented levels of immigration with more than half a million foreigners arriving to live here in a single year, new figures show.
Last year, 510,000 foreign migrants came to the UK to stay for at least 12 months, according to the Office for National Statistics. At the same time 400,000 people, more than half of whom were British, emigrated.
An exodus on this scale - amounting to one British citizen leaving the country every three minutes - has not been seen in the UK for almost 50 years.
Overall in 2006, there were a record 591,000 new arrivals. Only 14 per cent of these were Britons coming home.
It is the first time the number of foreign migrants has topped half a million and the statistics do not include hundreds of thousands of east Europeans who have arrived to work in Britain in the past two years. This is because most say they are coming for less than 12 months and do not show up as long-term immigrants.
The figures suggest that only one sixth of the immigrants were from the states which joined the EU in 2004.
The biggest influx was from the New Commonwealth - India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka - with more than 200,000 migrants.
Since Labour came to power in 1997, nearly four million foreign nationals have come to Britain and 1.6 million have left. Over the same period, 1.8 million Britons have left, but only 979,000 have returned.
More than 50 per cent of the British emigrants moved to just four countries in 2006 - Australia, New Zealand, France and Spain.
Yet despite high levels of emigration and a low birth rate, the population is still growing rapidly because of immigration by the equivalent to a city the size of Bristol every year.
This is placing huge pressures on public services, with councils claiming they are not getting enough financial help from the Government.
In a bid to deflect criticism and fulfill Gordon Brown's controversial conference pledge to create "British jobs for British workers", the Government will today announce plans to create millions more adult training places to ensure that people living in Britain have the skills to compete for jobs with immigrants.
The scheme is expected to include 3.5 million basic skills courses over three years for people with poor educational qualifications, as well as 120,000 new apprenticeships for the under-25s and 30,000 places for older workers.
Sir Simon Milton, the chairman of the Local Government Association, said the Government - which earlier this month had to apologise for publishing incorrect figures on foreign migrants working in Britain - had no clear idea of where all the immigrants were going and their impact on services.
"No one has a real grasp of where or for how long migrants are settling so much-needed funding for local services isn't getting to the right places," he said. "The speed and scale of migration combined with the shortcomings of official population figures is placing pressure on funding for services like children's services and housing.
''This can even lead to unnecessary tension and conflict."
Sir Andrew Green, the chairman of Migrationwatch, said: "Two thirds of yet another record level of arrivals come from outside the EU.
"They could and should be subject to much tighter controls."
Damian Green, the Conservative immigration spokesman, said: "These figures prove that immigration is still running at unsustainably high levels.
"This is the direct result of the Government's 'open door' approach which has totally failed to consider the impact of immigration on public services, housing and community cohesion."
Hazel Blears, the Communities Secretary, said she recognised that some local authorities were under pressure.
She added: "The effects of migration can put a strain on public services, especially when there is a large movement into an area in a short space of time."
Little research has been done into the reasons for the exodus of Britons, though it appears more are going abroad to retire though many younger people are leaving to work.
A study last year by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) suggested that one in 12 UK nationals may now be living abroad.
There are 250,000 second homes owned by British nationals in France alone.
Surveys indicate that another one million are set to pack their bags for good over the next five years and a further 500,000 live abroad for part of the year.
Danny Sriskandarajah, of the IPPR, said: "The UK is seeing revolving turnstiles and not over-run floodgates."More people are on the move than ever before, with a million emigrants and immigrants crossing our borders last year."
He added: "It is also clear that immigration is an economic phenomenon, with almost half of those immigrating and emigrating doing so for work-related reasons."
The difference of around three million between the emigration of British nationals and immigration of foreigners represents a five per cent turnover of the population in 10 years.
Previous immigrations did not exceed one per cent over 50 years.
This significant turnaround in population has inevitably changed its ethnic composition.
Over the past 20 years, the white British population has decreased slightly while the number of ethnic-minority Britons has doubled.
The last big wave of emigration was seen in the late 1950s and early 1960s, when the "£10 Poms" left in their droves for Australia, enticed by subsidised travel and settlement.
Little research has been done into the reasons for the current exodus of Britons, although it appears more are going abroad to retire while many younger people are leaving to work.