Unlimited new powers for Army in terror attack

The Army and police will be given virtually unlimited powers in the event of a terrorist attack under government plans unveiled today.

Officers would be allowed to seal off any area the Government suspects could be the focus of an attack. Exclusion zones could be enforced by shooting to kill.

Permission would be given for the summary arrest of terror suspects and detention without charge. Authorities would also be able to order mass evacuations and take over trains, buses and airports.

The new powers could also be deployed during natural or manmade disasters such as train crashes, flooding or a repeat of the 2001 foot-and-mouth outbreak.

The Civil Contingencies Bill is one of the most sweeping pieces of emergency legislation ever framed in Britain and will give ministers more power than ever before.

By declaring a state of emergency they will be able to suspend the normal workings of Government and law in the area affected - or even across the whole of Britain. Temporary legislation could be put in place without parliamentary approval to allow ministers to order any sort of action by police, military or civil service.

If approved by Parliament, the Bill would mean that a repeat of the September 11 attacks in Britain would be dealt with in a radically different way from the approach taken by authorities in New York.

That city's mayor, Rudolph Giuliani, had to use his normal powers to deal with the attack - but in Britain police could order people to leave the zone affected at gunpoint, and take over the public transport system to get them out.

They could also set up an exclusion zone around the target site for an unlimited time, and shoot anyone trying to approach it.

The arrest and detention of suspects-could be carried out without the normal limitation of needing reasonable grounds of suspicion to bring charges.

Home Secretary David Blunkett has claimed the Bill is "nothing draconian" and simply an updating exercise to bring emergency legislation into the 21st century.

But the scope of the powers has put the Government at the centre of a row over the potential for them to be abused, possibly even used to create a dictatorship.

Concerns centre on the definition of an emergency being extended to include threats to "political, administrative or economic stability". A joint parliamentary committee of MPs and peers set up to look at the plans said they had "potentially dangerous flaws".

Committee chairman Lewis Moonie, a former minister, said: "In defining emergency powers, the Government has come up with a one-size-fits-all Bill for every possible scenario.

"We are concerned that as a result the draft Bill does not provide-adequate safeguards to protect-against the misuse of emergency powers.

"In the wrong hands, it could be used to undermine or even remove legislation underpinning the British constitution and infringe human rights."

Civil rights group Liberty warned the powers were "extraordinarily wide" and swept aside basic human rights.

They could even be used against political protests or computer hackers, the group said. It is the second time the Government has been warned it is opening the way for dictators by changing legislation.

Last autumn senior judges warned their independence was under threat and England's second most senior judge, Lord Justice Judge, said: "There are nasty people out there and there is no guarantee that because we are Great Britain none of them will ever, ever come to power."