Record number of immigrants given British citizenship in just one year

In fresh evidence of the shocking scale of the country’s border chaos, official statistics showed that 203,705 UK citizenships were handed to foreigners last year.

The figure is a massive 58 per cent up on 2008 and the highest number since records began almost half a century ago.

The number of newcomers from outside the European Union granted the right to settle in the UK soared by 40 per cent to 214,000 during the 12 months to the end of March.

The figures, prepared by the Office for National Statistics, are seen as an indication of the massive immigration crisis facing David Cameron’s coalition Government.

They will also raise concerns that the Government’s promise to limit immigration from outside the EU will not go far enough, with 29 per cent of new citizenships granted to immigrants from the Indian sub-continent.

Immigration Minister Damian Green said: “These figures illustrate the scale of the immigration challenge facing the new Government. It is our duty to control immigration for the benefit of the UK and that is what I am determined to do.

“I believe that immigration has been far too high in recent years, which is why we will reduce net migration to the levels of the 1990s – to tens of thousands rather than hundreds of thousands.

The public will see us tackle this issue head-on by introducing a wide range of measures including a limit on work permits, actions on marriage and an effective system of regulating the students who come here.”

The official figures yesterday also showed that 503,000 immigrants arrived to settle in Britain during the 12 months to September 2009. The reduction, seen as the result of the economic downturn, was 9 per cent down on the 555,000 who arrived in the previous year.

A total of 361,000 people quit Britain during the same period, making net immigration 142,000, fewer than the 160,000 a year earlier but still enough to add another million to the population within seven years.

Mr Green welcomed the drop in immigration last year, but added: “What is significant is that grants of settlement, the right to remain in this country, and grants of British citizenship have gone up hugely.

“It shows the long-term effect of the fact that the immigration system was out of control for so long under the previous Government.

“You would expect immigration to fall during a recession but the long-term population growth of this country is still going up very fast.”

The figures will raise concerns that Britain remains on course for a total population of 70million long before the middle of the century. They will also demolish the last Labour Government’s claims that immigration was under control.

Sir Andrew Green, chairman of the think-tank MigrationwatchUK, said: “This is the legacy of the policy encouraged by the previous Government. The new Government must get a grip on immigration.”

The figures showed that the foreign country providing the largest number of new British citizens last year was India, with 26,535, or 13 per cent of the total.

A further 15,845 came from Somalia and Zimbabwe, troubled African states that have produced many asylum seekers in recent years.

Separate figures also indicated that the number of entrants from eastern European states that joined the EU in 2004, including Poland, dropped 55 per cent to 45,000.