Prime Minister David Cameron. Photograph by Moritz Hager/World Economic Forum
David Cameron faces a possible Tory rebellion in the Commons over foreign criminals using European human rights law to avoid deportation.
Around 100 Tory MPs want the government to make further changes to the Immigration Bill to prevent judges from being able to block the deportation of foreign criminals who have family links to the UK.
The government have already made changes to the Immigration Bill to strip terror suspects of UK citizenship. However, some Tory MPs believe that these changes may put Britain into conflict with European human rights legislation, and should have a proper debate in parliament.
British citizens would not be stripped of their citizenship under the proposals, but naturalised citizens accused of conduct deemed “seriously prejudicial” would lose their nationality, even if that left them stateless. The Home Office has insisted that these powers would be used sparingly, but some fear that they incongruent with the presumption of innocence.
The bill has the support of the Lib Dem leadership, but legal charity Reprieve have described the plan as an “alarming development” giving the home secretary power to strip people of passports without due process.