CIVIL rights campaigners launched an attack yesterday on “medieval” Tory plans to strip terror suspects of their British citizenship.

Home Secretary Theresa May’s proposed legislation will return to the Lords after MPs voted to overrule amendments made by peers.

Peers’ proposals to kick the idea into a parliamentary committee were rejected by MPs 305 to 239 and the government’s new amendments were then nodded through the Commons.

Reprieve spokesman Donald Campbell called it a “deeply disappointing result.”

He said: “This proposal would give the Home Secretary powers to make Britons stateless arbitrarily, without needing to go through any legal process.” 

But Immigration Minister James Brokenshire conceded that the Home Secretary would not be able to use the power without “reasonable grounds” to believe an individual can regain citizenship elsewhere.

Mr Brokenshire said: “It is not right that people who subvert our values and fight against our armed forces should invoke our protection and enjoy the privileges of British citizenship.”

He said while the government was convinced its original propsals would only have impacted on a small number of individuals, it was now “seeking to address the concerns that have been addressed about leaving individuals stateless permanently in circumstances where they have no recourse to another nationality.”

Liberty policy director Rachel Robinson said: “The Commons chose despotism over democracy in approving what is essentially medieval exile.

“With our principles trampled, it’s again left to the Lords to protect British justice.”