Home Office U-turn will let some dual nationals use EU passport to enter UK

People checking in for a flight to London at Biarritz airport in France. Some people had had to change their travel plans before the U-turn was announced. Photograph: Bob Edme/AP

British dual nationals who are EU citizens with post-Brexit settlement status in the UK will not have to use a British passport to return to the UK, the Home Office has said in a significant U-turn on its controversial dual national border rules.

The change, which critics say was “hidden away” on a government webpage, comes weeks after controversy erupted over the new rules that came into effect on 25 February. They require British dual nationals to present a British passport or certificate of entitlement, costing £589, before they board a plane to the UK.