The bill to nationalise Northern Rock is to go before the Commons, with the Conservatives ready to vote against it.
They believe the government's move is a "disaster" for taxpayers and that Chancellor Alistair Darling is now "politically a dead man walking".
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Ministers say the "temporary" move was necessary after they failed to find a private buyer for the bank that would deliver value for money for taxpayers.
Share value
The bill to nationalise Northern Rock was published on Monday and is expected to become law by the end of Thursday.
It will spend one day in the Commons going through all its stages and at least one day in the Lords, where governments are less able to force the pace of bills.
Commons leader Harriet Harman said the lower house would consider any amendments made in the Lords on Thursday and the Commons would be kept going until the bill was passed.
An independent figure will then be appointed to value the bank's shares and decide how much compensation shareholders will get.
Meanwhile, Chief Secretary to the Treasury Yvette Cooper has refused to be pressed on the accuracy of newspaper reports that taxpayers face a Ј100m bill for the cost of advice from banks and lawyers during efforts to secure a private sale for Northern Rock.
She told BBC Two's Newsnight: "I can't tell you the precise figures that are involved at this stage.
"It's right the bank should take expert advice and the bank will pay for it."
Job cuts?
Ministers say the move to nationalise the bank after two private sector proposals were rejected is temporary.
The Rock's new executive chairman, Ron Sandler, who has the task of finding a strategy for the bank, said it was too early to discuss potential job cuts among its 6,000 employees.
But he added that there was a good platform from which to stabilise the bank and repay billions of pounds of loans.
Taxpayers are currently subsidising the bank in loans and guarantees to other lenders to the tune of about Ј55bn.
Under the new strategy this will rise to Ј110bn, an equivalent of Ј3,500 per taxpayer.
A consortium led by Richard Branson's Virgin Group had put forward a rescue package for the bank and the board of Northern Rock had also come up with a proposal for the lender.
Trading in Northern Rock shares was suspended on Monday morning, ahead of the introduction of the emergency legislation.
Groups representing Rock shareholders, who are likely to receive very little in the way of compensation, say there are "good grounds" for legal action over the government's move.
Northern Rock's problems were prompted last autumn by a slump in the US housing market and a freezing up of global credit markets that started a run on the bank.
(BBC)
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