Sadiq Khan has called for the Government to prevent a future Windrush scandal by waiving citizenship application fees for young people who have lived in the UK most of their lives.

From April 6 this year, the cost for a child to register as a British citizen is £1,012.

Mr Khan says £372 of this fee goes towards administration costs and £640 is “profit” for the Home Office.

The Mayor of London today called on the Government to waive these fees for children and young people who have lived in the UK most of their lives but do not officially have British citizenship.

Mr Khan argued that these young people are faced with the higher university fees because they are classed as international students, and they have no access to student loans.

University fees for international students start at around £10,000 and can go up to above £30,000.

Mr Khan said: “These young Londoners have lived most, if not all, of their lives in this country. The Government should be ashamed that, after working hard at school for years, many of them find they cannot continue their education and fulfil their career ambitions and dreams.

“The Government charges huge fees to these young people, so they can get secure status. They profit on their circumstances, despite the amazing contribution they make to our city and our country.”

The Windrush scandal refers to recent revelations about how immigrants from the Caribbean who came to the UK between 1948 and 1971 had been treated like illegal immigrants because they no longer had paperwork proving how they arrived in the UK.

He added: “The Government must act now to avoid a second Windrush-style scandal.

“They need to remove the so-called ‘hostile environment’, streamline the application process so young people’s lives are not needlessly interrupted and waive the astronomically high fees they charge to confirm something we already know to be true – that they are British citizens, that they are Londoners.”