Charles Clarke, the Home Secretary, presented sweeping new anti-terror legislation to Parliament today that he said was vital to protect Britain from terrorist attack.

But the Prevention of Terrorism Bill, which is to be rushed through the Commons with only two days of debate to replace the current anti-terror regime that expires on March 14, provoked fury on the Opposition benches, where Mr Clarke was accused of riding roughshod over traditional rights and liberties.

The legislation will be allow the Home Secretary to order that anyone suspected of aiding terrorism should have controls imposed on their right to travel or to associate with other people, including their use of the phone or internet.

The most severe orders could involve house arrest - a new concept in English law that would need secondary legislation to allow the Government to opt out from Article 5 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

But Mr Clarke tried to reassure MPs by saying that police had advised him that no such orders would be immediately necessary - even for the 10 foreign terror suspects currently held without trial in Belmarsh prison, who are expected to be released soon.

He said: "The advice I have had from the police and security services is that the range less than deprivation of liberty is sufficient to deal with these people."

The Government has eventually laid its new proposals before Parliament less than three weeks before existing anti-terror powers are due to expire, after an 8-1 Law Lords ruling last year that the current laws are discriminatory and unlawful. That legislation allows for foreign terror suspects, but not British subjects, to be held in prison indefinitely and without trial.

Mr Clarke told the Commons that his new plans for control orders were vital to prevent a terrorist attack. In reply to Opposition objections that a judge and not a politician should decide whether to lock someone in their home without trial, he said that judges would have a "critical role" to play in reviewing decisions made by the Home Secretary.

Mr Clarke stressed that Britain faced a serious terror threat. He said: "Let no one be in any doubt that there are terrorists here and abroad who want to attack the UK and its interests. Some believe that the absence in this country of a terrorist outrage like 9/11 or Madrid means that the terrorist threat has somehow passed us by or failed to materialise.

"That view is short-sighted, complacent, ignorant of the facts and potentially cavalier of the safety of this country."

Opposition MPs were furious yesterday when it was announced that the new Prevention of Terrorism Bill was being rushed through the Commons in just two days with hardly any time for serious debate.

But Mr Clarke said: "My principle responsibility is to protect this country and everyone within it. It would be the gravest dereliction of duty to wait until we have suffered a terrorist outrage here and then respond only after the event. I am not prepared to take a risk of that kind..."

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