The law and Shamima Begum

Shamima Begum, the jihadi bride seeking to return to Britain, represents an awful problem for the UK – but isn’t she our problem and shouldn’t we deal with her under our own justice system? How, morally, can we strip her of UK citizenship and dump her on Bangladesh, which she has never visited? James Forsyth’s argument yesterday resonated, especially amongst Tories who agree with him that depriving her of a passport looks like taking the easy way out. I’ve been struck by how many ministers also accept that citizenship deprivation is a pretty bad option – but they think that, in the circumstances, the other options are worse. Here’s how they see it.

Bangladesh’s government says that she is not one of their citizens, leading some to argue that she can sue: that it’s illegal to strip her of her British passport because no one can be made stateless. Government lawyers are relaxed about this.