Anti-terror plan 'proportionate'

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Counter-terrorism laws must not move the UK towards a "Big Brother" society, security minister Lord West has said.

But he told peers debating the Counter-Terrorism Bill it was "proportionate to what we are trying to achieve".

The most controversial part of the bill - extending detention of terrorism suspects - will be debated on Monday.

Peers are expected to reject the call for the time terrorist suspects can be held by police before being charged to be increased from 28 to 42 days.

The bill passed through the Commons but a rebellion by some Labour MPs and opposition from the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats meant the 42-day proposal got through by only nine votes.

There have been reports that Gordon Brown has been warned not to use the Parliament Act to force it through if peers reject it.

But the prime minister's spokesman said he would not "get into hypotheticals" about using the act and pushing ahead was "the right thing to do".

Impact on communities

Thursday's House of Lords debate heard warnings that councils had misused existing anti-terror laws and searches must be done in an "irreproachable manner".

"We have had plenty of examples recently of local councils using existing anti-terrorist legislation for completely different purposes than the legislation was ever set up to do," Tory peer Baroness Hanham said.

It is right that these things have an impact on citizens and we have to be certain that we don't do things that are wrong, biased and unfair Lord West, security minister

Lib Dem Baroness Miller warned of the danger of a potential situation in which police searching premises on suspicion of terrorist activity discovered teenagers illegally downloading music and decided to arrest them.

"Unless their search is seen to be very fair and conducted in an irreproachable manner, the likelihood is that it is going to cause tremendous upset in communities," she argued.

But Lord West said there were plenty of safeguards in the bill to protect people, while he was confident the police would show common sense when conducting searches.

"It is right that these things have an impact on citizens and we have to be certain that we don't do things that are wrong, biased and unfair," he said.