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| Version 4 | Version 5 |
|---|---|
| PM seeks to avoid defeat by Tory immigration rebels | PM seeks to avoid defeat by Tory immigration rebels |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| David Cameron has said he agrees with aims of Tory MPs pushing for a ban on foreign criminals using European human rights law to avoid deportation. | David Cameron has said he agrees with aims of Tory MPs pushing for a ban on foreign criminals using European human rights law to avoid deportation. |
| No 10 has told Tories not to oppose a rebel amendment to the Immigration Bill, although ministers will not back it as the measure may be illegal. | |
| The prime minister had been facing the prospect of a Commons defeat over the proposal, which is backed by 100 MPs. | The prime minister had been facing the prospect of a Commons defeat over the proposal, which is backed by 100 MPs. |
| Coalition partners, the Lib Dems, will vote against the amendment. | |
| Labour MPs are also expected to vote against it so it is unlikely to become law. | |
| The debate, taking place at the moment, has been the focus of weeks of effort by backbench Conservative MPs wanting to push the government into taking a tougher stance on immigration, even if it means defying the European Court on Human Rights and upsetting the Liberal Democrats. | |
| 'Blank cheque' | |
| Opening the debate, Home Secretary Theresa May outlined a last minute amendment from the government to strip some terror suspects of their British citizenship. | |
| She has faced accusations that this was introduced into the Immigration Bill at the last minute in an effort to buy off rebels, with the SNP's Pete Wishart accusing her of making the policy up "on the back of a fag packet". | |
| But Mrs May told MPs she has been working on the proposal for some time - and that was merely an extension of existing powers, dating back to World War 1, which allow home secretaries to remove British passports from individuals deemed guilty of "overt disloyalty" or who were "not conducive to the public good". | |
| She rejected a claim by ex-Lib Dem minister Sarah Teather that she was seeking a "blank cheque" to rob citizens of their rights. | |
| She said it was a response to "very limited, specific circumstances" relating to a single case of an Iraqi refugee stripped of his citizenship by the previous Labour government, only to have it reinstated by the courts. | |
| Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, has backed Mrs May's amendment saying he had worked for "many many months" on it with the home secretary. | |
| It will give ministers - rather than judges - the final say in whether a deportation would breach the human rights of foreign criminals. | |
| The main thrust of the Immigration Bill is being supported across the Commons. | |
| The new legislation would: |