Britain hands out quarter of all new citizenships within the EU: Nearly 200,000 were granted in 2012 alone

Britain is handing out almost a quarter of all new citizenship granted within the European Union.

Official figures published yesterday showed the UK gave citizenship – which invariably paves the way to a British passport – to 193,900 people.

It was 23.7 per cent – the highest proportion of almost 820,000 foreigners given citizenship by any of the 28 EU nations in 2012.

Official figures published yesterday showed the UK gave citizenship – which invariably paves the way to a British passport – to 193,900 people

Migrants from India headed the list of those granted a UK passport, with 14.6million. This was followed by Pakistan (9.5million), Nigeria (4.6million) and Philippines (4.2million).

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