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.
MPs have voted in favour of plans to strip terror suspects of their British citizenship by 297 to 34 votes.
Home Secretary Theresa May unveiled the proposal as a last-minute change to the Government's Immigration bill.
There was a small rebellion from Liberal Democrat MPs.
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.