IMMIGRATION to the UK from the European Union has remained at its lowest level since 2013, according to the latest estimates from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

The number of EU citizens arriving into the UK has continued to fall since 2016 - mainly because there has been a fall in people coming to the country for work, the ONS said when it published its figures on Thursday.

In the year ending March 2019, EU immigration was estimated to be 200,000. This is the lowest since the year ending June 2013 when it was an estimated 183,000.

The figures are classed as experimental estimates and come a day after the ONS admitted it had been underestimating some EU net migration data since 2016.

The error affected figures on the number of migrants from EU8 countries - like Poland - since 2016 and migration from countries outside the EU has been over-stated, the ONS said.

As a result it has been forced to downgrade the status of its immigration data from 'national statistics' - which requires a high degree of accuracy and reliability - to experimental.

Jay Lindop, director of the ONS Centre for International Migration, said: "Our best assessment using all data sources is that long-term international migration continues to add to the UK population.

"The level has been broadly stable since 2016, but there are different patterns for EU and non-EU citizens.

"Using the data sources available to us, we can see that EU immigration is falling.

"There are, however, still more EU citizens moving to the UK than leaving, mainly for work, although the picture is different for EU8 citizens, with more leaving the country than arriving.

"In contrast, non-EU immigration has stabilised over the last year, after gradual increases since 2013."

Net migration remained broadly the same since the end of 2016, according to the ONS.

Around 226,000 more people are thought to have come to the UK with an intention to stay 12 months or more than left in the year ending March 2019.

This is thought to be lower than the recent peak of 343,000 in the year ending June 2015.

These suggested estimates are based on calculations for net migration incorporating Department for Work and Pensions and Home Office data, the ONS said.

For the past year, net migration estimates have shown more so-called EU8 citizens leaving than arriving.

In the latest period, from the EU8 states (Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia) there were 7,000 more nationals who left the UK than arrived.