Civil liberties campaigners vowed to continue fighting Government plans for secret court hearings in sensitive national security cases after MPs rejected stronger safeguards.
Ministers comfortably saw off a bid to reinstate amendments made by the House of Lords despite Labour securing the support of a number of Conservative and Liberal Democrat MPs.
Several prominent Labour ex-ministers defied their own party's position to back the Government in last night's vote on controversial elements of the Justice and Security Bill.
