David Cameron defended his plan to draw up a modern Bill of Rights today as a "home-grown, hard-nosed" measure that would help restore British parliamentary supremacy.

The Human Rights Act had failed to protect trial by jury and to stop the Government trying to destroy freedom of speech under religious hatred laws, he said.

Mr Cameron told an invited audience in the Westminster-based Centre for Policy Studies that the present situation was "practically an invitation for terrorists and would-be terrorists to come to Britain".

He answered critics, such as Lord Tebbit, the former Tory chairman, who said that creating the Bill of Rights while not withdrawing from the European Convention on Human Rights would create confusion.

Mr Cameron said: "The existence of a clear and codified British Bill of Rights will tend to lead the European Court of Human Rights to apply the ‘margin of appreciation’.

"This means that the court in Strasbourg will tend to respect and uphold the principles laid down in the Bill of Rights whenever they can.

"In other words we will be given the benefit of our own clearly stated statement of values. So we have the prospect of an enduring British solution that can command the respect of our own people and of the Strasbourg court."

Asked after his speech whether a Bill of Rights would overturn centuries of British tradition by creating a written constitution, Mr Cameron said: "Yes, it is a step towards writing down another part of our constitution."

But he added: "Everyone says we do not have a written constitution but it is all written down, just in different places. This is another step towards writing it down in one place."

The Bill, spelling out the rights and responsibilities of all British citizens, will form a "landmark in our constitution and our legislation" and make the country a better place to live, Mr Cameron said.

"I believe that the time has now come for a new solution that protects liberties in this country; that is home-grown and sensitive to Britain’s legal inheritance; that enables people to feel they have ownership of their rights, and one which at the same time enables a British Home Secretary to strike a common-sense balance between civil liberties and the protection of public security," Mr Cameron said.

"The Conservative Party, under my leadership, is determined to provide a hard-nosed defence of security and freedom.

"And I believe that the right way to do that is through a modern British Bill of Rights that also balances rights with responsibilities. This would clearly set out people’s rights, would enable those rights to be protected in British courts, and would strengthen our hand in the fight against crime and terrorism."

Mr Cameron will commission a panel of jurists and other experts to help draft the Bill.

The Human Rights Act has come under repeated assault in recent months in relation to controversial decisions, including the release from jail of sex attacker Anthony Rice, who went on to murder a 40-year-old mother.

Tony Blair has expressed frustration at the courts’ interpretation of the Act, branding as "an abuse of common-sense" a High Court ruling that it would be a breach to deport a hijack gang to Afghanistan.

Mr Cameron added: "Any fair audit of the Human Rights Act would come to the conclusion that change is needed in order to protect both our security and freedom more effectively.

"The Human Rights Act has made it harder to protect our security. And it’s done little to protect some of our liberties. It is hampering the fight against crime and terrorism. And it has helped to create a culture of rights without responsibilities."

Simply abolishing the Act - as the Conservatives advocated in their 2005 manifesto - would still leave Britain at the mercy of the decisions of the Strasbourg court, he said.

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