EU nationals with right to live here reaches high

The number of EU nationals given certificates confirming their right to live in the UK permanently has jumped to its highest level in at least a decade, figures show.

A total of 7,307 documents certifying permanent residence were granted to people from the bloc in the three months to the end of June.

This was the highest quarterly tally since the current official data set started in 2006 – and more than four times the number in the equivalent period last year.

The combined total for the first half of this year was 12,503 – compared to 4,569 granted from January to June in 2015.

The figures for the most recent quarter cover the weeks leading up to and days immediately after the UK voted in June to leave the EU.