Lords give green light to anti-terror bill

The House of Lords has voted to approve the government's controversial anti-terror legislation.

With the Conservatives abstaining from the vote, the parliamentary ping-pong over the bill finally came to an end on Wednesday evening.

A Liberal Democrat amendment which would have removed any reference to the 'glorification' of terrorism was rejected by 172 votes to 112.

The legislation means offenders could be jailed for up to seven years for encouraging or inducing terrorism under the clause. Critics say it will damage free speech.

Conservative peer Lord Kingsland had urged peers to abstain to prevent the bill from being further delayed.

"Home secretary Charles Clarke has given an undertaking next year to reconsider all the measures on terrorism that are at the moment on the statute book and introduce a new measure to replace them," he said.

"That will give [the Lords] the opportunity to examine a range of issues that have given us deep discomfort in the course of this bill: the definition of terrorism, the use of the word glorification and so on."

For the Liberal Democrats, Lord Goodhart warned that the inclusion of the glorification clause "will cause significant trouble over the next few years".

But Home Office minister Baroness Scotland said the measure was "something that the ordinary man in the street would understand with the greatest of ease".

A Home Office spokesman welcomed the Lords vote on the crucial amendment.