Defeated amendments to immigration legislation looked like they had been drawn up "on the back of a fag packet" and would leave individuals in legal limbo, it was claimed yesterday.

Tory MP Dominic Raab's proposed changes to the Immigration Bill, which sought to give ministers rather than judges the final say on whether deportation would breach the human rights of foreign criminals, was defeated by 241 votes to 97.

However nearly 100 MPs - many of them Tory backbenchers - voted in favour of allowing ministers to have the ultimate decision.