MPs have rejected proposals to ban foreign criminals claiming their right to a family life to avoid deportation. The plans were defeated despite almost 100 MPs, many of them thought to be Tory backbenchers, voting against the government.
Immigration Minister Mark Harper said "citizenship is a privilege, not a right" after the Home Secretary tabled a last-minute change to the Immigration Bill to allow the removal of a UK passport from terror suspects.
Mr Harper said: "Those who threaten this country's security put us all at risk. This Government will take all necessary steps to protect the public.
"These proposals will strengthen the Home Secretary's powers to ensure that very dangerous individuals can be excluded if it is in the public interest to do so."
The immigration debate is underway in earnest in the Commons, exposing the rift which cuts through the Conservative Party in Westminster.
The Immigration Bill was shunted into the sidings over Christmas while ministers worked out how to head off a rebellion they saw coming.