PM rescued by Labour as 86 Tories rebel on migrants Bill

DAVID Cameron’s authority was dented yesterday after he was forced to rely on Labour and Liberal Democrat votes to face down a mass rebellion by his backbenchers over immigration.

The Prime Minister appeared unable to control his party as 86 Tory MPs voted to stop foreign prisoners using the right to a family life in the Human Rights Act to stay in Britain.

On a day of farce in Westminster, Downing Street and the Home Office rejected an amendment tabled by Tory backbencher Dominic Raab as illegal and

‘We’ve settled for a shambles’

unworkable but then announced they would abstain on the vote rather than annoy the rebels.

In a fresh coalition split, Liberal Democrat ministers broke ranks with their Conservative colleagues and voted to defeat the amendment on the grounds that it breaches the European Convention on Human Rights.

But the rebels were only defeated when Labour leader Ed Miliband ordered his MPs to oppose the plans as well.

The Raab amendment was finally thrown out by 241 votes to 97, with 86 Tories rebelling. Privately, some MPs compared Mr Cameron’s position to that of John Major, who was described as being ‘in office but not in power’ during the latter days of his premiership.

One said: ‘There is the appearance of chaos... at best.’

The battle came as the Coalition’s Immigration Bill was passed into law, limiting migrants’ access to the NHS and council housing. Home Secretary Theresa May won a battle to toughen up the Bill, passing a Government amendment to give ministers the power to strip people suspected of terrorist activities of their British passports – even if that leaves them stateless. During the debate, Mr Raab said foreign criminals were using their right to a family life as the ‘joker’ to escape deportation.

The MP for Esher and Walton said many victims of crime were being put at risk because their attacker remained in the UK.

Mrs May argued that the Raab amendment ‘is incompatible with the European Convention on Human Rights’ and even suggested it would make it harder to deport criminals. But then, to widespread derision, word leaked out that Tory ministers would not oppose the amendment.

No 10 sources acknowledged that the situation was ‘messy’ but said that by abstaining on the key vote they had avoided an ‘unnecessary confrontation’ with the backbenchers like the one which tore the party apart over prisoner voting last year. They stressed that Mr Cameron ‘supports the principle’ of Mr Raab’s plan to curb the abuse of Article 8 of the Human Rights Act by foreign criminals but could not vote for an amendment that would be illegal.

But the Prime Minister’s refusal to take on his own party was seen in Westminster as an admission that he was unable to impose his authority.

Another MP added: ‘We’ve avoided an omnishambles and settled for a basic shambles instead.’

Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said it was a ‘car crash’ for Mr Cameron and Mrs May.

She said the backbenchers had ‘scared her away from making the right decision’.

Former Tory leader Lord Howard warned that repeated rebellions could cost the Conservatives a majority at the next election.

He added: ‘What is needed is a degree of self- discipline from Conservative backbenchers.’

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