Blair: Hundreds planning terror attacks

The full scale of the terrorist threat confronting Britain was laid bare by the Prime Minister today.

In a chilling warning, he said "several hundred" active terrorists were already inside Britain and plotting atrocities.

All fell outside the existing power of the police and courts to prosecute them, he said. "There are several hundred in this country who we believe are engaged in plotting or trying to commit terrorist acts," he said.

Mr Blair issued an appeal for MPs to back the Government's emergency terror laws which face a growing rebellion in Parliament. The threat of a backbench revolt in the Commons tonight grew as former foreign secretary Robin Cook and several more MPs vowed to join the 32 who voted against the measures last week.

Mr Blair insisted the unique nature of the dangers posed by suicide bombers made the new laws for detaining suspects without trial necessary.

He said the threat was posed by terrorist supporters and plotters who could not be convicted without compromising intelligencesources but where the police were begging for more power than merely keeping them under surveillance.

"What they say is you have got to give us powers in between mere surveillance of these people - there are several hundred of them in this country who we believe are engaged in plotting or trying to commit terrorist acts - you have got to give us power in between just surveying them and being able, being sure enough of the proof, to prosecute them beyond reasonable doubt," said Mr Blair.

"We genuinely believe that they are necessary in order to protect the country."

The anti-terror powers are being opposed by the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats, plus a cross-party alliance of peers.

Although Home Secretary Charles Clarke is expected to agree concessions this week, there was no sign of them being given before tonight's vote. Mr Blair

denied playing politics with the new Prevention of Terrorism Bill. And he insisted he would not curb traditional freedoms unless it was vital.

"I grew up as a lawyer and someone who heavily engaged in civil liberties. I introduced the Human Rights Act so of course I care about it."

"But I won't make a concession on the basic principle because that would be to ignore the advice I'm being given. I do hope people understand that we are only doing this in the most extreme circumstances but we do need the powers. There are people out there who are determined to destroy our way of life and there's no point being naive about it."

The Home Secretary issued a three-page memo today to MPs explaining his Bill in an attempt to reassure waverers.

It stated that he rather than a judge was "best placed" to decide when it was necessary to issue an anti-terrorist "control order", which could range from house arrest to electronic tagging.

"The assessment involves inferences and evaluations being made in relation to matters affecting national security," the memo said.

A senior Labour peer has warned that the entire package faced certain defeat in the Lords unless judges were given far greater powers to halt the issuing of such control orders. Lord Haskins, a party donor who was ennobled by Tony Blair, said it was unacceptable for people's liberty to be taken away without the courts being involved first.

"Arbitrary detention does not appear to have worked in the past," he said. "It tends to make martyrs out of villains."

He also warned that after the Iraq weapons dossier, peers were less willing to trust "dubious" secret intelligence reports.

Former home secretary Kenneth Clarke today branded the proposals contained in the Bill "the most illiberal measures" he has encountered in 35 years as an MP.