Fact-Checking Farage

[BisiBodi]

Nigel Farage recently stated: “7.2 million foreign-born people have registered with GPs in the last 10 years... All I'm doing here is giving you cold hard facts.”

Well, here’s a cold hard fact that is actually verifiable: 40.6% of GPs in England and Wales are foreign-born. The NHS wouldn’t survive without them. Foreign-born staff aren’t a burden—they’re the backbone.

Nigel Farage’s claim that "7.2 million foreign-born people have registered with GPs in the last 10 years" is highly misleading and requires context. And here’s why:

1. Misrepresentation of GP Registration Data
The 7.2 million figure likely comes from NHS Digital’s GP registration data, which tracks all new patient registrations, not just foreign-born individuals.
Many of these registrations are duplicates (e.g., people moving between GPs, students changing addresses, or babies being born).
The net increase in GP patients over the past decade is far lower—around 3 million (from ~59m in 2013 to ~62m in 2023).
NHS data experts have long cautioned against using raw registration numbers as proxies for migration—they’re too messy and often inflated.

2. Foreign-Born ≠ Recent Immigrants
The foreign-born population includes people who have lived in the UK for decades, not just recent arrivals.
Many are naturalised British citizens or long-term residents (e.g., those who arrived in the 1950s–2000s).
The ONS estimates the total foreign-born population in the UK is ~9.5 million (2021), meaning Farage’s claim would imply nearly 75% of all foreign-born people registered with GPs in just 10 years—an absurd exaggeration.
Farage’s figure also likely includes millions of EU citizens who were already living in the UK long before Brexit and simply remained after securing their rights through the EU Settlement Scheme. Over 5.6 million applications were made to the scheme, reflecting long-term residents—not new arrivals—who’ve been working, paying taxes, and contributing to British society for years.

3. The NHS Relies on Foreign-Born Staff
Farage’s framing ignores that 40.6% of GPs in England and Wales are foreign-born (Nuffield Trust, 2021).
Without them, the NHS would collapse—over 200,000 NHS staff (18%) are non-British, including 46% of doctors.
The NHS currently has over 120,000 staff vacancies, including critical shortages in nursing and general practice. Foreign-born staff are keeping the service afloat.
Many foreign-born NHS workers pay more in taxes than they use in services, helping fund the system—not drain it.

4. GP Registration ≠ Immigration Impact
Registering with a GP does not mean someone is a new immigrant—it’s required for anyone accessing healthcare, including:
British citizens returning from abroad
Children born to foreign parents (who are often British citizens)
EU citizens legally working in the UK
The UK has had net immigration of ~3.8 million in the last 10 years (not 7.2m), and even that includes students, workers, and family members—not all needing GP care immediately.

Conclusion
Farage’s claim is deliberately misleading—it conflates GP registrations (which include re-registrations and British citizens) with immigration figures, while ignoring that the NHS depends on foreign-born workers.
The real "cold hard fact" is that immigration has kept the NHS running, not overwhelmed it.

Recap:
GP Registrations ≠ Immigration
The 7.2m figure counts all new registrations—including:
Brits moving house
Babies being born
Students changing universities
Net patient growth (2013–2023): Only ~3 million (NHS Digital).
https://digital.nhs.uk/.../patients-registered-at-a-gp...

Foreign-Born ≠ “New Arrivals”
UK’s total foreign-born population: ~9.5m (many here for decades) (ONS).
https://www.ons.gov.uk/.../populat.../internationalmigration
Farage’s mathematics would mean 75% of all immigrants arrived in 10 years—obviously false.

NHS Runs on Immigrant Staff
40.6% of GPs are foreign-trained (Nuffield Trust).
https://www.nuffieldtrust.org.uk/.../the-nhs-workforce-in...
46% of doctors are foreign-born.
120,000 NHS vacancies exist—immigrants are saving the system, not breaking it.

Net Immigration: 3.8M (Not 7.2M)
Farage’s number is double the actual net migration (ONS).
https://www.ons.gov.uk/.../migrationstatisticsquar.../latest

The Bottom Line
Farage’s claim, yet again, is a deliberate con:
He’s using admin data (GP sign-ups) to inflate fear.
He’s ignoring that immigrants staff the NHS.
His mathematics don't add up.

The real crisis? Without foreign-born workers, your GP wait time would be years, not weeks.

Your links don't work for me at least. You're claiming that British-born people who re-register with a GP after moving within England are counted as new registrations in Farage's figure? I think you're wrong. And immigration is different to net migration. Yes. That doesn't mean it's factually incorrect to talk about immigration.

I think the people who support Farage wouldn't see 40% of GPs being foreign born as a good thing. They would see that as another downside of immigration and prefer that NHS jobs go to British people.

In the interests of accuracy, we should note this.

Your OP says "Nigel Farage recently stated: “7.2 million foreign-born people have registered with GPs in the last 10 years... All I'm doing here is giving you cold hard facts.”

"..registered with GPs.." means that they registered as patients at GP practices.

Not that they registered as GPs.

Copy pasting from facebook never really works as easy as people think

Farage isn't actually interested in immigration, he's using it as a tool to get into number 10. Then it will a right wing agenda to impose his idea of utopia.

1. No Welfare State
2. No NHS
3. No employment rights
4. No entitlement to paid holidays
5. No sick pay
6. Very little consumer rights
7. No environmental protection
8. Lower food standards

That's what he's after

Indeed, but makes you realise we can't do without immigration especially with the demographics we have have. Maybe he will off shore source retirement and us all to Sir Lanka or India.

For those having problems with accessing the links, mea culpa.

This thread is a copy of a post I initally wrote on Facebook (I fact-check and report on Farage's pathological duplicity on a lot of social platforms). It would appear that links on Zuckerberg's platform are altered and so do not copy across from one platform to the other properly.

As MN doesn't allow for editing on the original post, here are those links again, together with their section headers for ease of reference:

GP Registrations ≠ Immigration
digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/patients-registered-at-a-gp-practice

Foreign-Born ≠ “New Arrivals”
www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/populationandmigration/internationalmigration

NHS Runs on Immigrant Staff
www.nuffieldtrust.org.uk/resource/the-nhs-workforce-in-numbers

Net Immigration: 3.8M (Not 7.2M)
https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/populationandmigration/internationalmigration/bulletins/migrationstatisticsquarterlyreport/latest

Correct. They will take this country, already broken and beleaguered, even further back.

To apply a little historical anthropology, it's the same playbook to the disastrous Brexit referendum that caused colossal national self-harm, we are seeing the same rhetoric being peddled out again. And many people are falling for it yet again.

Reform are not going to make things better for anyone other than themselves, and certainly not for you or me.
They are not going to solve your individual problems. They are not even going to address them.
They are not going to Make Britain Great Again.
You are being sold dangerous lies. Again.

You only have to look at Trump and Trumpism in the US right now to see where the UK would be under Farage and Reform.

We all want change; indeed, we all need change, but supporting fascist ideologues based on the illusory idea your life will somehow be improved under never works. Ever.

I can't find the figures for the ten year period from 2014/15 to 2024/25 via those links

Farage’s figure also likely includes millions of EU citizens who were already living in the UK long before Brexit and simply remained after securing their rights through the EU Settlement Scheme. Over 5.6 million applications were made to the scheme, reflecting long-term residents—not new arrivals—who’ve been working, paying taxes, and contributing to British society for years.

Just to note EUSS was also for newcomers securing temporary leave. Iirc it was not too far apart in numbers for settled and pre-settled numbers.
Also the 5.6 mil included non EU applicants.

So where is your evidence that Farage's figure includes British people re-registering after moving within England?

And are you still falsely implying that the 7.2 million new registrations includes all the births in England and Wales?

Well well, it seems that our "fact checking" friend was unable to back up their claims!

I pretty much agree OP, although it’s also true that uk trained doctors are struggling to get in.

I'm guessing the influx of Ukrainians are also in these figures ?

Np one ever questions Farage that's the problem!

Why wouldn't they? Don't you think Ukrainians need health services?

• 2021 Census: 16.8% of the population of England and Wales (59.6 million) were born outside the UK, totaling 10 million people.

• 2011 Census: 13.4% of the population (7.5 million) were born outside the UK.

• 2001 Census: 8.9% of the population (4.6 million) were born outside the UK.

• EU vs. Non-EU: In 2020, 9.5 million non-UK-born people resided in the UK, with 3.5 million born in EU countries and 6.0 million born outside the EU.

There was an increase of 2.5 million foreign-born people from 2011 to 2021.

7.5 million in 2011.

10 million in 2021.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine was in 2022, so the Ukrainian refugees arrived after the 2021 census.

Despite an increase in the number of medical schools and places across the UK since the early 2000s, the UK does not train enough doctors to have a sustainable supply without recruiting qualified doctors from abroad. Similarly, demand for dental services is not being met by the current NHS dental workforce.

https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-9735/

But Farage was talking about foreign-born people registering with a GP "in the last 10 years".

It does seem crazy to me that our universities create an artificial funnel neck by limiting the number of places to only a fraction of the almost identically graded students. And then we do such an awful job of getting those qualified doctors into the roles that need to be filled. All the while demanding that we need to import doctors and that they are the backbone of the nhs - without being clear that that was a situation of our own making and one we insist on continuing to engineer.

The Office for National Statistics doesn’t have accurate data for 2025, so I guess Farage has been hand-counting the numbers when he’s in the UK, which isn’t often.

The number of places available to study medicine and dentistry is regulated by the government, not universities. The Department for Health and Social Care, in consultation with Health Education England, is responsible for the setting of medical and dentistry caps.

Yes, the number of places is controlled by the government by limiting the university place. I didn't mean to suggest that the universities are the architects of this madness. I'm sure they'd rather be churning out health professionals than medieval dance graduates.

It waa abou 7 mil 2010-2020 afaik. I would believe it easily that the number is same-is 2014-2024 BUT it counts GP registrations, not new NHS registrations so point about it being duplicates!/triplicates of the same people moving around is valid. DH and I most likely account for 4 combined in that time. So he did misrepresent data by the wording, BUT that is actually most likely the same as OSN and others did.
Same way like OP did with the way she wrote about EUSS making it sound like it's only very long term, working EU citizens who are in that 5mil+ figure.