Banks kind of had to move their headquarters out of London, to avoid the risk of being cut off from most of their customers.

But now if your employer changes from being an UK to a German company, then suddenly that means that they might not be able to keep employing you, thanks to "your" British politicians trying to keep a hard stance against cross border employment.

So then suddenly your choices are:

- keep your passport, but you'll likely lose your job and be forced to move out of your house

- change your passport and keep your job and your house

To me, that explains why now so many Britons choose option B.

The article doesn't really explain it, but many of those asking for a passport now are already living in Germany, so they merely want to stay where they are.

And as someone living in Germany, I'd like to add that the government handling of Covid, unemployment support, and free access to healthcare will really sweeten the deal. Would you want to move from Berlin (almost no restrictions apart from wearing face masks) to London at this time?