Britain's citizenship process has come under fresh scrutiny after figures revealed that the number of grants reached an all-time high under Labour, with almost 270,000 applications approved in 2024—enough to fill cities the size of Newcastle, Brighton or Plymouth, and double the levels seen a decade ago.
Campaigners have accused the Home Office of operating a 'box-ticking' process that barely vets migrants, and have demanded that Britain stop handing out citizenships 'like confetti'. Robert Bates of the Centre for Migration Control said: 'The value of a British passport has been cheapened and awarded to those who are, quite frankly, not British.'
The controversy comes amid a row over Egyptian dissident Alaa Abd El-Fattah, who was granted British citizenship in 2021 despite a history of online posts calling for the murder of Jews and police officers, and expressing hatred for white people. El-Fattah, whose mother was born in the UK, was welcomed by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer upon his arrival in London on Boxing Day.
Alp Mehmet of Migration Watch UK said: 'Securing British citizenship has become little more than a box-ticking exercise. We hand it out like confetti: in 2024 alone, Britain granted more citizenships than Japan did in nearly 60 years.' He added that the process is now so lax that there is scant vetting to ensure migrants have shown a genuine commitment to Britain.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch acknowledged that granting citizenship to El-Fattah was a mistake, but said the decision was 'rubber-stamped' by officials without escalating the case to the then home secretary Priti Patel. The Home Office has not commented on the record grant numbers.
