EU gives a million more migrants right to settle in UK in just one year
Official figures released show the number of migrants entering the EU has risen by a fifth since the UK decided to leave the European Union
NEARLY a million migrants were given EU citizenship in 2016 – and the right to settle in Britain.
Figures from Eurostat showed that 101,000 Moroccans, 67,000 Albanians and 41,000 Indians were among the 995,000 who gained citizenship in one of 28 EU member states.
Nearly six in ten of the Indian citizens obtained British citizenship. Nationals from Pakistan and Nigeria the other two top non-EU recipients of UK citizenship.
The number granted EU citizenship soared by a fifth in the year of the Brexit referendum - up from 841,000 in 2015.
It means an additional 995,000 migrants have the right to live and work in any of the 28 member states.
And they’ll be free to move to the UK and register for British citizenship before Britain finally breaks free of freedom of movement rules after the Brexit transition period ends in December 2020.
The figures are likely to trigger further calls on Theresa May to take a tougher approach to post-Brexit immigration amid fears she is preparing to offer preferential treatment to EU citizens.
Brexit Secretary David Davis has said he wants to avoid a visa-scheme for EU citizens, meaning they would be given an advantage over non-EU migrants.
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And last month Home Secretary Amber Rudd refused to back the Government’s 100,000 net migration target.
But in a sign of a major split with No10, Mrs May insisted on Monday that the target would remain in place after Brexit.
She told The Sun that she wanted to “continue to work to ensure that we address that particular target."
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