Immigrants are now entering the UK at the rate of nearly one a minute.

An analysis of the latest immigration statistics by think-tank Migrationwatch, plus the recent IPPR report on the record emigration of British people highlight the unprecedented changes that are taking place in the nature of British society.

'The government has had some success in reducing asylum claims,' said Sir Andrew Green, chairman of Migrationwatch. 'But, as a result of their "no limits" policy, immigration as a whole has shot up. We now have a migrant arriving in the UK almost every minute - and these are just the legal ones we know about.'

This calculation is based on the official estimate that some 474,000 foreign migrants came to the UK in 2005 - nearly one a minute. Allowing for those who left during the same year, the net inflow of foreign citizens was 292,000. This was partially offset by a net out flow of 107,000 British citizens resulting in a net inflow of about 500 a day.

However, there are doubts about the official numbers for East Europeans as only 65,000 were classed as immigrants in 2005. This implies that only one in four has stayed for a year or more – almost certainly an underestimate.

The Migrationwatch analysis also shows that, while the new arrivals from Eastern Europe have hit the headlines, immigration from Eastern Europe in 2005 accounted for only just over one in five foreign immigrants; the vast majority of the rest were from Asia and Africa.

'The tripling of net foreign immigration in the past ten years has largely resulted from what the Government likes to call “managed migration” routes (i.e. principally work-related migration and family reunion). Firm action is long overdue to limit immigration from non - EU countries which are the main source of this immigration,' said Sir Andrew.

He said that it was increasingly clear that the Government had not thought through the consequences of these immigration levels - the highest in our history - and it was only now that the true costs were becoming apparent.

'They have been trying their best to obscure what is really happening by pretending that this mass immigration is a success, even though it is the result of government miscalculation and neglect. But the strains in terms of schools, health and housing refuse to go away - not to mention the impact on the employment prospects of British people as the unemployment numbers steadily increase. These are conveniently airbrushed out of the picture,' he said.

'This is all taking place against the express wishes of the vast majority of the population who repeatedly tell pollsters that immigration is their top concern - yet these fully justified concerns fall on deaf ears,' said Sir Andrew.