Decisions on Citizenship removal not taken lightly: UK after revoking IS teen nationality

Decisions to deprive Britons of their citizenship are based on evidence and not taken lightly, Prime Minister Theresa May's spokesman said on Wednesday. Britain stripped a teenager who travelled to join Islamic State of her citizenship on security grounds, triggering a row over the ramifications of leaving a mother with a jihadist fighter's child to fend for herself in a war zone.

"Any decisions to deprive individuals of their citizenship are based on all available evidence and they are not taken lightly," May's spokesman said. He declined to comment on the individual case of 19-year-old Shamima Begum.