The government has increasingly used its powers to revoke the citizenship of hundreds of individuals in the last year, data show.
A total of 316 people had their British citizenship removed on the basis of fraud or suspected terror links, the highest yearly number ever recorded.
The 2022 figures make up a third of all deprivations issued by the Home Office since 2010.
In those 12 years, 1,064 people had their UK citizen status removed, of which over 840 were owing to fraud.
Deprivation orders on the basis of fraud are issued to people who obtained their citizenship through registration or naturalisation, and were found to have gained their British status through false representation or “concealment of a material fact.”
Of the 217 total number of deprivation orders made under “conducive to the public good,” almost all related to national security reasons.
Almost half—104 orders—were issued in 2017 correlating with the threat from jihadi terror group ISIS.
For people who have naturalised as British, citizenship deprivation is permitted even if it would leave them stateless.
Under the Royal Perogative, the home secretary also has the power withdraw a person’s British passport.
Someone whose passport is withdrawn remains a British citizen, but their overseas travel is restricted.
Home Office policy states this will be done “sparingly,” such as where the person intends to travel abroad to engage in terrorism.
There is no right of appeal against having a passport withdrawn, but the person can ask for an internal government review or apply for judicial review by a judge.
From 2013 to 2021, there were 94 cases of passport withdrawal for national security reasons, according to the Home Office.
