NEW laws to help to catch and convict people involved in planning terrorist acts could be introduced quickly if the police and intelligence agencies say they need them, Tony Blair told MPs yesterday.

Plans to bring in new powers next spring will be accelerated if necessary and could include measures to convict people who glorify or condone acts of terrorism, Mr Blair hinted.

He told a Conservative MP who had demanded action to stop fundamentalist clerics inciting terrorism that the Government would look carefully at action against people “who incite such hatred in our community . . . this is one of the things we should look at in the next few months”.

Mr Blair, speaking to a sombre and united Commons, promised one of the most “vigorous and intensive” manhunts seen in Britain to find those responsible for the terrorist attacks last Thursday. He said it seemed probable that the bombs were planted by “Islamist extremist terrorists” of the kind responsible for other outrages, including September 11 and Madrid.

Expressing “revulsion at this murderous carnage of the innocent”, he vowed that the country “will not be defeated by such terror, but will defeat it and emerge from this horror with our values, our way of life, tolerance and respect for others undiminished”.

Charles Clarke, the Home Secretary, is already planning to publish a draft Bill for pre-legislative scrutiny in the autumn. This is expected to include provisions for a new offence of committing acts preparatory to terrorism.

The present intention is for the full Bill to be introduced next spring, by which time the Government will have received an independent report from Lord Carlile, QC, into the operation of control orders.

Mr Blair said he did not see any reason at present to depart from that timetable, but added: “If, as the fuller picture about these incidents emerges and the investigation proceeds, it becomes clear that there are powers which the police and intelligence agencies need immediately to combat terrorism, it is plainly sensible to reserve the right to return to Parliament with an accelerated timetable.” Labour’s manifesto promised laws against those “who glorify or condone acts of terror”.

Mr Blair expressed “heartfelt thanks and admiration” for the work of the emergency services who dealt with the terrorist attacks across the capital, saying their work was “magnificent”. With the Conservatives softening their calls for an inquiry, he said that eventually the Government would have to analyse what could be learnt from last week’s events, but the priority must be to do nothing that distracted the police and authorities from the job in hand of trying to track down the bombers.

He told MPs: “As for Londoners themselves, their stoicism, resilience and sheer undaunted spirit were an inspiration and an example. At the moment of terror striking, when the eyes of the world were upon them, they responded and continue to respond with a defiance and a strength that are universally admired.”

Mr Blair added: “The 7th of July will always be remembered as a day of terrible sadness for our country and for London. Yet it is true that just four days later, London’s buses, trains and as much of its Underground as is possible are back to normal schedules; its businesses, shops and schools are open; millions of people are coming back to work with a steely determination that is genuinely remarkable.”

Michael Howard paid warm tribute to the Prime Minister for the “calm, resolute and statesmanlike way in which the Government responded to the attacks . . . The Prime Minister has movingly articulated the profound sorrow that we all feel following this atrocity”.

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