Thousands of landing card slips recording the arrival of Windrush generation immigrants into the UK were destroyed by the Home Office in 2010, it has emerged.

The slips provided details of an individual's date of entry into the UK, but the Home Office said the information had limited use and keeping them could have broken data protection laws.

Labour said their destruction was "truly shocking" and blamed the "fiasco" on the Home Office.

"The Windrush generation have been threatened with deportation because they cannot provide documents, but now we learn that the Home Office destroyed the very records that could have demonstrated their right to remain", shadow home secretary Diane Abbott said.

The Windrush generation were invited to the UK from the Caribbean in the decades following World War II. Many children were included on their parents' passports when they arrived but recent changes to immigration law mean people must have documentation to work, rent a property or access benefits and many now lack the correct paperwork.

On Tuesday, Theresa May apologised to Caribbean leaders over the controversy.

The decision was taken by the UK Border Agency in 2010 to dispose of the registration slips, in line with the principles of the Data Protection Act.

A Home Office spokesman said: "Registration slips provided details of an individual's date of entry, they did not provide any reliable evidence relating to ongoing residence in the UK or their immigration status.

"So it would be misleading and inaccurate to suggest that registration slips would therefore have a bearing on immigration cases whereby Commonwealth citizens are proving residency in the UK."

Mrs May was home secretary at the time of the disposal of the slips.

Asked if the prime minister had been aware of the disposal at the time, her spokesman said: "My belief, at this moment, is that it was an operational decision that was taken by the Border Agency."

Her spokesman said it was the right decision to dispose of the documents.

A former Home Office employee told the Guardian it was decided in 2010 to destroy the disembarkation cards, which dated back to the 1950s and 1960s, when the Home Office's Whitgift Centre in Croydon was closed and the staff were moved to another site.

The Home Office stressed that in deciding immigration cases, officials consider alternative evidence, such as tax records, utility bills and tenancy agreements, as evidence of ongoing residency in the UK in these exceptional circumstances.

Ms Abbott called on Home Secretary Amber Rudd to announce that she will accept the "burden of proof" in deportation cases for the Windrush generation should lie with the Home Office rather than the potential deportee.

She said: "The revelation that Windrush landing cards were destroyed is truly shocking and the culpability of this fiasco rests solely with the Home Office.

"Amber Rudd must explain who authorised this action and when, and what Theresa May's role was as the then home secretary."