Nearly a million people in a year have become entitled to live and work in the UK after being handed citizenship of other European Union countries.

The 995,000 people who gained this status in 2016 represent a sharp increase on the 841,000 figure for 2015. Around 150,000 of the citizenships were handed out by Britain – an increase of 30 per cent from 2015.

According to EU freedom of movement rules, citizens belonging to one member state are allowed to live and work in any other member state.

Around 150,000 of the citizenships were handed out by Britain – an increase of 30 per cent from 2015

Jonathan Portes, a professor of economics at King’s College London, said: ‘The increase in Britons acquiring the nationality of other EU countries is obviously driven by the prospect of Brexit'

The number of UK nationals granted citizenship of another EU country more than doubled in 2016. A total of 6,555 applications were approved in 2016 – the year of the Brexit vote.

This was up from 2,478 in 2015, marking the highest number since records began in 2002, according to the EU statistics body Eurostat. Around four in ten applications were for German citizenship, while 15 per cent were for Sweden and 10 per cent for the Netherlands.

Jonathan Portes, a professor of economics at King’s College London, said: ‘The increase in Britons acquiring the nationality of other EU countries is obviously driven by the prospect of Brexit, which is very likely to make UK citizenship much less useful for working, living and travelling elsewhere in the EU. It would be very surprising if this trend did not continue.’

Of the 6,555 citizenships granted to UK citizens in 2016, only 2 per cent were awarded Irish nationality.

This was despite reports of large numbers of applications to Dublin following the EU referendum in June of that year.

Of those gaining EU citizenship in 2016, Moroccans, Albanians and Indians were the main recipients.