Hain: Sparked terror row

Peter Hain has defended his claim that Britain is safer under Labour.

The Commons leader sparked controversy when he told reporters on Tuesday night an attack on the scale of September 11 was less likely under the current government.

Hain refused to back down when opposition politicians accused him of creating a "climate of fear" for party political purposes.

"Britain obviously is vulnerable to terrorist attack and you can't predict where it would come under any government," he told the BBC.

"My point is if we are tough on crime and on terrorism as Labour is, then I think Britain will be safer under Labour, yes.

"The Tories and Liberal Democrats oppose lots of our measures against terrorism and lots of our measures in tackling crime."

When asked about Hain's comments the prime minister's official spokesman defended the government's position.

The spokesman said: "We are not trying to create a climate of fear. What the government is trying to do is deal with the real threats we face from terrorism and deal with people's domestic fears."

Political aspect

In his comments on Tuesday, Hain also appeared to indicate there was a political aspect to the legislative plans.

"We are crowding out any space [for the Conservatives] on the security agenda and that will make for an interesting political year," he told journalists.

Following the comments, Michael Ancram said ministers were "trying to create a climate of fear in this country which I think is a very dangerous thing to do".

"Quite apart from anything else, if he goes around saying we are safe from terrorism under Labour, that is a challenge to the terrorist," the shadow foreign secretary told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

"It is an irresponsible thing to do. He is playing party politics with an issue which really should be above and beyond party politics."

Liberal Democrat chairman Matthew Taylor also warned that the government's approach "will not go down well in Britain".

He added that Hain "should know better than most that all parties are united in their concern to keep Britain safe from terrorism".

Support

However, there was some support for the Commons leader from former Home Office minister John Denham.

"I think you can point to the record and say the legislation we think is necessary and was largely supported by the police and security services was brought forward by a Labour government and opposed by other political parties," the Labour MP told BBC Radio.

"I think it is obviously the case that to the security services, to the police, to the other people professionally involved in protecting us, it will make no difference to their personal and professional commitment which political party is in power.

"You do have to be careful not to suggest that in some sense these services are more on the side of one party than another because clearly they are not."