Seven out of every ten children born in London last year had at least one foreign-born parent, official figures reveal, with the figure as high as 86 per cent in some suburbs.

The number of children born in England and Wales with at least one parent born overseas has soared to a record 33 per cent – up from just 21.2 per cent in 2000, when Tony Blair’s government was opening the gates to mass migration from Eastern Europe.

Figures from the Office for National Statistics showed there were 230,811 babies who had either one or two immigrant parents out of a total of 697,852 births last year. The 33 per cent ratio is up 0.5 percentage points on 2014.

Seven out of every ten children born in London last year had at least one foreign-born parent, official figures reveal. Stock image

The impact of migration was especially striking in London, where almost 70 per cent of 129,615 newborns in the city had at least one parent from overseas.

In the eastern borough of Newham, the proportion was 86.4 per cent – or 5,378 out of 6,226 babies. Brent, in North-West London, came next with 86.2 per cent, followed by Westminster (83.5 per cent) and Kensington and Chelsea (83.2 per cent).

In only four of 32 London boroughs were fewer than half of births to non-British parents. The figures were revealed by National Statistician John Pullinger in a letter published by the House of Commons.

The data is a striking illustration of the way mass migration is changing the face of the country – and placing additional pressure on public services, including hospitals, clinics and education services.

The rise in the number of babies with parents born abroad has partly come because fertility rates among immigrants are higher than those of British-born women.

Alp Mehmet, vice-chairman of the Migration Watch think-tank, which campaigns for balanced migration, said: ‘This shows the huge pressure placed on public services by very large-scale immigration. Looking ahead, a large proportion of London’s population growth will be down to immigration so it is essential that we bring overall numbers down.’

The figures were revealed by National Statistician John Pullinger in a letter published by the House of Commons

Tory backbencher Philip Hollobone said: ‘Immigration is changing the face of our country.

‘Immigrants have more children than indigenous people and the make-up of the country is changing in front of our eyes. We have to get control over immigration and Brexit is the best way to achieve that.’

It came as official statistics published today are set to show net migration running close to record levels.

In the latest set of figures, published in August, net migration totalled 327,000 in the year to March – before Britain voted to leave the EU. That was down slightly on the record 336,000 recorded a year earlier.

The influx left egg on the face of the Government whose manifesto pledge was to reduce numbers to the ‘tens of thousands’.

Failure to control the country’s porous borders – in large part due to the controversial requirement to let in EU citizens – was the spur for millions of people to vote for Brexit.

After becoming Prime Minister, Theresa May reinstated the vow to cut net immigration to below 100,000 – but has warned it could take more than four years.

Britain is seeking to introduce controls on free movement rules following the EU referendum.