PM seeks to avoid defeat by Tory immigration rebels
MPs back plan to strip terror suspects of UK citizenship
(35 minutes later)
David Cameron has said he agrees with the aims of Tory MPs pushing for a ban on foreign criminals using European human rights law to avoid deportation.
MPs have voted in favour of Home Secretary Theresa May's plan to strip some terror suspects of UK citizenship by 297 to 34.
No 10 has told Tories not to oppose a rebel amendment to the Immigration Bill, although ministers will abstain as the measure may be illegal.
The proposal was a last minute addition to the government's Immigration Bill.
The prime minister had been facing the prospect of a Commons defeat over the proposal, which is backed by 100 MPs.
They are now voting on proposals to ban foreign criminals from using European human rights law to avoid deportation.
Coalition partners, the Liberal Democrats, will oppose the amendment.
That amendment - proposed by backbench Tory rebel Dominic Raab - is likely to be defeated despite David Cameron saying he agreed with it in principle.
Labour MPs have also been told to vote against the amendment, meaning it will not become law.
The party has told BBC News it will come up with its own proposals to make it easier to deport foreign criminals.
The debate, taking place in the House of Commons, 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'
The rebel amendment, tabled by Conservative MP Dominic Raab, states that foreign criminals who have served more than a year in prison should be deported unless they face the threat of torture or death at home.
Opponents say this could contravene European law, but, during heated scenes, Mr Raab said this was a "misunderstanding" on their part.
Before it was announced that Conservative ministers would abstain on the rebel amendment, Home Secretary Theresa May was coming under increasing pressure to make concessions.
And opening the debate she gave details of the last-minute amendment from the government to strip some terror suspects of their UK citizenship, even it leaves them stateless.
Mrs May faced accusations that this had been introduced into the Immigration Bill to buy off rebels.
SNP MP Pete Wishart said: "To say this was concocted on the back of a fag packet would do a massive disservice to fag packet speeches."
But Mrs May told MPs she had been working on the proposal for some time - and that it was merely an extension of existing powers, dating back to World War One, which allow home secretaries to remove British passports from individuals deemed guilty of being "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" stemming from 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.
The main thrust of the Immigration Bill is being supported across the Commons.
