Keir Starmer admits he MUST bring down immigration after shock figures show net inflows hitting a new peak of 906,000 in a year - and still running at 728,000 annually

Keir Starmer admitted he must bring down immigration today after shock figures showed the annual record has been smashed again. In other developments today: The cost of the UK's asylum system has risen to £5 billion, the highest level of spending on record and up by more than a third in a year, according to separate Home Office data; Some 25,244 migrants have arrived on Channel boats in the year to September, slightly ahead of the figures for 2023; Some 66 per cent of small boats arrivals who received an initial decision in the year ending September were granted asylum. That was down from 86 per cent in the previous 12 months; The number of asylum seekers being housed temporarily in UK hotels was 35,651 at the end of September - up from 29,585 at the end of June despite the Labour government pledging to stop using the facilities; Yvette Cooper has announced a 'landmark' deal with Iraq, which will see the UK provide up to £300,000 for law enforcement training in border security, with money to tackle organised crime and a new irregular migration and border security taskforce. The scale of the inflow is poised to spark a fresh political row, after Kemi Badenoch used a major speech last night to insist the Tories would not allow Britain to be treated like a 'hotel' for migrants Of the 1.2million people who came to live in the UK in the 12 months to June this year, around 86 per cent - a million - from outside the EU. Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said: 'In the space of four years net migration rose by almost five times to a record high - that shows the serious damage that was done to the immigration system, the lack of proper controls in place, and the over reliance on a big increase in overseas recruitment.