Sajid Javid has defended his decision to strip Shamima Begum’s British citizenship amid a diplomatic row with Bangladesh.

The home secretary insisted he would “not leave anyone stateless” after officials in Dhaka said the 19-year-old mother was not a Bangladeshi national and would not be allowed to enter the country.

"I'm not going to talk about an individual, but I can be clear on the point that I would not take a decision and I believe none of my predecessors ever have taken a decision that at the point the decision is taken would leave that individual stateless,” Mr Javid told ITV’s Robert Peston. "My number one job is to do whatever I can to keep this country safe and I admit that sometimes when you make these decisions they are not easy decisions.

"They can be very tough decisions, so many things to weigh up about the mortality of a decision, the legality of a decision, how it can have a huge impact on someone's life.”

His comments came after MPs questioned why Ms Begum was not being repatriated to Britain for potential prosecution.

Timeline of the Isis caliphate Show all 19 1 /19 Timeline of the Isis caliphate Timeline of the Isis caliphate ISIS began as a group by the merging of extremist organisations ISI and al-Nusra in 2013. Following clashes, Syrian rebels captured the ISIS headquarters in Aleppo in January 2014 (pictured) AFP/Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi declared the creation of a caliphate in Mosul on 27 June 2014 Timeline of the Isis caliphate Isis conquered the Kurdish towns of Sinjar and Zumar in August 2014, forcing thousands of civilians to flee their homes. Pictured are a group of Yazidi Kurds who have fled Rex Timeline of the Isis caliphate On September 2 2014 Isis released a video depicting the beheading of US journalist Steven Sotloff. On September 13 they released another video showing the execution of British aid worker David Haines Timeline of the Isis caliphate The US launched its first airstrikes against Isis in Syria on 23 September 2014. Here Lt Gen William C Mayville Jnr speaks about the bombing campaign in the wake of the first strikes Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Isis militants sit atop a hill planted with their flag in the Syrian town of Kobani on 6 October 2014. They had been advancing on Kobani since mid-September and by now was in control of the city’s entrance and exit points AFP/Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Residents of the border village of Alizar keep guard day and night as they wait in fear of mortar fire from Isis who have occupied the nearby city of Kobani Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Smoke rises following a US airstrike on Kobani, 28 October 2014 AFP/Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate YPG fighters raise a flag as they reclaim Kobani on 26 January 2015 VOA Timeline of the Isis caliphate Isis seized the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra on 20 May 2015. This image show the city from above days after its capture by Isis Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Kurdish forces are stationed on a hill above the town of Sinjar as smoke rises following US airstrikes on 12 November 2015 AFP/Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Kurdish forces enter Sinjar after seizing it from Isis control on 13 November 2015 AFP/Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Iraqi government forces make the victory sign as they retake the city of Fallujah from ISIS on 26 June 2016 Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Iraqi forces battle with Isis for the city of Mosul on 30 June 2017 AFP/Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Members of the Iraqi federal police raise flags in Mosul on 8 July 2017. On the following day, Iraqi prime minister Haider Al Abadi declares victory over Isis in Mosul Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Members of Syrian Democratic Forces celebrate in Al-Naim square after taking back the city of Raqqa from Isis. US-backed Syrian forces declare victory over Isis in Raqqa on 20 October 2017 after a four-month long campaign Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Female fighters of the Syrian Democratic Forces celebrate in Al-Naim Square after taking back the city of Raqqa from Isis. US-backed Syrian forces declare victory over Isis in Raqqa on 20 October 2017 after a four-month long campaign AFP/Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Trucks full of women and children arrive from the last Isis-held areas in Deir ez-Zor, Syria in January 2019 They were among the last civilians to be living in the ISIS caliphate, by this time reduced to just two small villages in Syria’s Deir ez-Zor Richard Hall/The Independent Timeline of the Isis caliphate Zikia Ibrahim, 28, with her two-year-old son and 8-month-old daughter, after fleeing the Isis caliphate, on Saturday 26 January 2019 Richard Hall/The Independent

Labour MP David Lammy wrote on Twitter: “Stripping individuals of citizenship sets a very dangerous precedent. We should take responsibility for our own citizens and try them for crimes in British courts, not leave them stateless. This is the rule of law.”

Radio presenter and counter-extremist Maajid Nawaz said the order had made British people of immigrant heritage “second-class citizens”.

He said: “If citizenship is revocable for people like me, it was never citizenship to begin with – it was nothing but a visa."

Lord Anderson, the former independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, said deprivations “effectively bring about two classes of citizenship”.

Speaking on Radio 4’s Today programme, he pointed out that if he fought for Isis in Syria he would retain the legal right to return to Britain, but someone of Pakistani or Bangladeshi heritage would not.

Fahad Ansari, a lawyer who represented two men of Bangladeshi heritage who won appeals against citizenship deprivation last year, said the application of the power had been “inherently racist and discriminatory”.

Mr Javid said he would consider other tools when possible but “in some circumstances, the only reasonable way left to protect this country is to make sure someone cannot re-enter it”.

(Statista (Statista)

He added: “I will not hesitate to remove their nationality if it is the only option left for me to protect everyone that lives in the UK."

A lawyer representing Ms Begum’s family said they would be launching a legal challenge.

Tasnime Akunjee told The Independent that the teenager had been left “to all practical purposes stateless”.

She was born in the UK and never visited Bangladesh or possessed a passport from the country, he added.

Ms Begum meanwhile, told ITV News she was “shocked” by the move and suggested she would explore how to gain Dutch nationality through her husband, who is an Isis fighter from the Netherlands.

Dhaka’s ministry of foreign affairs said Ms Begum was not a Bangladeshi citizen and “there is no question of her being allowed to enter into Bangladesh”.

Mr Javid had earlier insisted that all citizenship deprivations were “not only conducive to the public good, but legally proper and correct, and compliant with both international and any relevant domestic law.”

He suggested that Ms Begum's baby will remain a British citizen, telling MPs: “If a parent does lose their British citizenship, it does not affect the rights of their child.”

The shadow home secretary Diane Abbott highlighted that Article 15 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights says “everyone has the right to a nationality” and that “no-one shall be arbitrarily deprived of their nationality”.

The number of people stripped of British citizenship for the “public good” has soared by more than 600 per cent in a year.