NEW counter-terrorist measures, including telephone taps and trials of terrorist suspects without a jury, will be outlined in a draft Bill after the Queen’s Speech yesterday.

The Bill will lay out radical plans drawn up by David Blunkett, the Home Secretary, to put before Parliament if Labour wins a third term.

Yesterday Whitehall sources said that it was impractical to include a new Bill in the Queen’s Speech, partly because the Government is awaiting a decision by the law lords on the legality of continuing to hold suspected foreign terrorists without trial at Belmarsh prison, southeast London, and elsewhere.

Their judgment, expected in January, will have an impact on anti-terrorist strategy if they rule against the suspects’ continued detention. It may also influence Mr Blunkett’s plans for tougher measures.

The draft Bill will be used as a basis for consultation over the next few months. The introduction in court of wiretap evidence — widely used abroad — is expected to be welcomed by most of Britain’s security and intelligence agencies, despite suggestions that they are concerned about compromising operational techniques.

However, one problem will be the sheer volume of wiretap evidence and the need for it to be transcribed.

Plans for ID cards are also being seen by Mr Blunkett as a key weapon against terrorism. MI5 and other European intelligence agencies say that up to a third of terrorist suspects use multiple identities.

The cards could also curb illegal immigration and identity theft and stop people using free services such as the NHS or applying for benefits to which they are not entitled. The ID Card Bill would create a secure database of addresses and biometric identities based on facial or iris recognition or fingerprints of everyone in Britain.

There will be no compulsion to carry the card or, initially, to have one, but the Bill will create the potential for them to become compulsory with Parliament’s agreement. The Home Office says that there has never been a plan to make carrying them compulsory, although police believe that this will happen.

Under the £3.1 billion plan, the first cards will be available in 2007-08. Anyone over 16 applying for, or renewing, a passport will have to accept a card at a cost currently put at £85 for both. The cards will also be available separately and could be used for EU travel.

The Bill creating the cards will include new offences of being in possession of forged identity papers and improperly obtaining identity papers.

The law and order agenda also includes the creation of the Serious Organised Crime Agency, a British version of the FBI, with 5,000 staff including former police and Customs investigators. The Bill setting up the agency is also being used for new police powers to crack down on intimidation and harassment by animal rights activists.

Protesters directed by police to stop demonstrating outside people’s homes will face prosecution if they return within three months. Noisy late-night protests will also be banned.

The Protection from Harassment Act 1997 would be amended to stop the harassment of two or more people who are connected, for example employees of the same company. This is aimed at the tactic of drawing up campaigns against a list of victims.

A new drugs Bill will allow police to test suspects on arrest.

Lawyers and civil liberties groups gave warning that the new package of police powers was, in effect, a step towards a police state. The Law Society expressed fears that an estimated 600,000 extra people could face compulsory drug testing.

Janet Paraskeva, its chief executive, said that the Bill would “represent a major increase of police powers at the expense of the liberty of the individual”.

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