The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, is calling on the prime minister to give EU nationals the right to remain in the UK.

More than 29,000 EU nationals call Tower Hamlets their home, which accounts for 10 percent of the borough’s population.

Sadiq wants the unilateral pledge, protecting the 3.3million EU citizens who currently live in Britain, to be given as soon as Theresa May triggers Article 50, formally starting the Brexit process at the end of this month.

“My message to them is clear - you are Londoners, you are welcome here and you deserve a commitment from the Government that you can stay,” he explained.

“Make no mistake about it, the one million European citizens who study, live and work in our great city contribute massively to its success and there is absolutely no doubt that London would suffer immeasurably without them.

“Business, universities, schools and the health services are all telling me the same thing - you can’t keep over a million Londoners in limbo.”

The House of Lords passed an amendment to the Article 50 Bill to give all EU citizens, who currently live in the UK the right to stay here after Brexit, but it was rejected by MPs on Monday and the Article 50 Bill passed into law unchanged.

“It is vital that the Government gives them a cast-iron guarantee of the right to remain in the UK and does not use them as bargaining chips during the complicated process ahead,” he said.

“This reflects badly on London’s and UK’s global reputation.

“European citizens, who have studied, lived and worked in London for years – contributing massively to our success – now fear that they may not have a future in the city they’ve made their home. Many of them have had and brought up children here.”