Sweden’s government has proposed changing the constitution to allow dual citizens convicted of "crimes that seriously harm Sweden’s vital interests” to be stripped of their Swedish citizenship, saying the measure would allow gang criminals to be deported.

A cross-party inquiry in January recommended changes to one of Sweden’s constitutional laws to allow dual citizens to be stripped of Swedish citizenship from dual citizens who commit "serious crimes which threaten national security or are covered by the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court".

The government, however, on Friday said it wanted to go further and also include "crimes that seriously harm Sweden’s vital interests”, a category, it argued, that would include crimes that seriously threaten Sweden’s security, or “certain serious system-threatening” gang criminality.

The opposition Social Democrats have complained that the phrase "harming vital interests" is too vague, making it hard to predict whose citizenship could be at risk.

The proposal also calls for changes to allow citizenship to be revoked if a person obtained it through fraud or threats

Henrik Vinge, the Sweden Democrat chair of the Swedish parliament’s Justice Committee, said that the new category would include people found guilty of carrying out gang shootings or planting explosives, as well as other serious violent crimes “that threaten society’s ability to maintain public order and safety".

“Organised crime is a form of domestic terrorism with substantial violent capacity. It silences witnesses, threatens social workers, and defrauds our welfare system,” he said at a press conference announcing the proposal to parliament.

He said that police estimated that there are around 1,400 people active in gangs today who hold dual citizenship.

The bill also includes proposals to restrict Sweden’s constitutional right to freedom of association so as to forbid criminal organisations, opening the way for a future law criminalising membership of a criminal gang.

According to Sweden’s justice minister, Gunnar Strömmer, this would also include membership of other types of extremist organisation, such as the violent far-right “aktivklubbar.”

Finally, the government wants to give the right to abortion constitutional protection.

The Social Democrats said that although they had disagreed with the wording, they did not oppose changing the law to allow gang leaders to be stripped of Swedish citizenship.

“There is no doubt about where we stand. The Social Democrats want to take passports from gang leaders, terrorists, and anyone who has obtained their citizenship on false grounds,” the Sweden Democrat MP, Amalia Rud Stenlöf, told the TT newswire.

Changing one of Sweden’s four constitutional laws requires passing the bill in parliament twice, once on either side of a general election.