One million foreigners have been given British passports since Labour came to power, according to government figures published yesterday.

The number of new citizens was released alongside figures showing that almost 8,000 Romanian and Bulgarian workers registered in Britain in the three months after their countries joined the European Union in January. Among the main occupations given by Romanians and Bulgarians was “circus artiste”. It was the top occupation among Romanians and the third for Bulgarians.

A further 49,000 immigrants from eight other East European states registered for work, bringing the total to 630,000 since their countries joined the EU in May 2004.

Separate figures published yesterday showed that the Government was failing to sustain its drive to deport more failed asylum-seekers. They indicate that 3,370 asylum-seekers and their dependants were deported in the first three months of this year, the lowest number for five years.

Yesterday’s figures showing that the number of new citizens has topped a million since 1997 came despite a 5 per cent fall in the number granted citizenship in 2006.

It was the first year since Labour came to power that the number of new citizens fell. Liam Byrne, the Immigration Minister, said that one reason for this was the introduction of tests for English and on life in Britain before an applicant was given a passport.

Almost one third of new citizens last year came from Africa originally, with a further 19 per cent from the Indian subcontinent and a further 16 per cent from the rest of Asia.

The countries providing the largest number of new citizens were India with 15,125, Pakistan 10,260, Somalia 9,050, the Philippines 8,840, South Africa 7,670, Nigeria 5,870 and Sri Lanka with 5,720.

Mr Byrne blamed the Government’s focus on deporting foreign prisoners for the 34 per cent fall in the number of asylum-seekers and their dependants deported in the first quarter of this year compared with same period last year.

He said that the Immigration and Nationality Directorate had “changed gear” to concentrate on deporting foreign national prisoners. “In our enforcement strategy we said we would deport those who are most harmful first,” he said. “When you look at the number of foreign national prisoners deported in the last year it has nearly doubled. We are not going to relax our efforts to deport failed asylum-seekers.

“Over the next 12 months we are increasing our enforcement budget by £100 million.”

Separate figures showed that almost 8,000 Bulgarians and Romanians came to work in Britain in the first three months of this year, plus 2,400 who have joined the seasonal agricultural workers’ scheme.

The figures on Romania and Bulgaria did not provide a full picture of the numbers who have moved to Britain because no such records are kept by the Government.

A total of 630,000 migrants from Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania and Slovenia have registered for work since these countries joined the EU in 2004.

There were 48,820 applicants in the first three months of 2007, down 16 per cent on the previous three months but similar to the same figure for the first quarter of 2006.

Almost two thirds of those registering – just under 400,000 – are Poles, according to the figures. However, the overall figure is larger because the statistics do not include those who are self-employed.

Sir Andrew Green, chairman of Migrationwatch, an immigration think-tank, said that the Government’s failure to meet its removals target meant that it was making no impression on the quarter of a million failed asylum-seekers still in Britain. He added: “On the Eastern European data, these figures confirm that massive levels of immigration from Eastern Europe continues unabated. It is even more vital to reduce immigration from the rest of the world if our public services are to be able to cope.”

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