All EU citizens living in Britain may be allowed to stay after Brexit, it was reported last night.

The Home Office has apparently made the move after discovering that five in six could not legally be deported.

There are more than 3.5million EU nationals living in the UK, more than 80 per cent of whom will have permanent residency rights by the time Britain leaves the union in early 2019.

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The Home Office has reportedly discovered that five in six EU citizens could not legally be deported

The rest – more than 600,000 people – are set to be offered an amnesty.

A number of Cabinet ministers have told The Daily Telegraph that those citizens will be offered the right to stay permanently.

Theresa May has refused to guarantee the rights of EU citizens currently living in the UK, saying she believes that the Government must not ‘reveal its hand’ ahead of Brexit negotiations, which will begin when she triggers Article 50 next year.

There are more than 3.5million EU nationals living in the UK, more than 80 per cent of whom will have permanent residency rights by 2019

‘The remaining people will, of course, be allowed to stay in the UK,’ a senior source told the paper. ‘That’s a given. We just need to work out exactly how we do it.’