informants from committing murder, torture and rape.
The House of Commons rejected an amendment that aimed to limit the kind of crimes that can be authorised under a new law.
The Covert Human Intelligence Sources (Criminal Conduct) Bill went on to pass its third reading by 313 votes to 98, sending the unamended legislation off to the House of Lords for further scrutiny.
It would allow public authorities, ranging from police and MI5 to HMRC and the Food Standards Agency, to authorise agents and informants to commit crimes while undercover.
The proposed authorisations would not only be issued in the interests of national security or preventing and detecting crime, but also preventing [...]