Tony Blair has said it would be "grossly irresponsible" for parliament not to pass the government's anti-terrorism legislation.

The prime minister said the government was prepared to move some way to meet the concerns of other parties and politicians.

Speaking in Downing Street moments after home secretary Charles Clarke outlined in the Commons for his plans for enhanced parliamentary scrutiny of the terror law Blair said it was now possible to find "a way through" the current impasse on .

However there would be no other concessions, indicated the prime minister.

If opposition parties pushed for further concessions they would be making "a big mistake".

He was seeking an end to the parliamentary ping pong that has seen the two houses of parliament dispute two key issues contained in the Bill.

"We've made it absolutely clear we cannot accept the amendment that would alter the burden of proof for the security services and police to take action against people," Blair said.

"If we accepted that amendment it would make it far harder for our security services and police to defend this country against terrorism."

And he said the 12 month sunset clause also backed by peers would be "a mistake".

He said it would "send a signal of weakness at the very time we should be sending a signal of strength".

However, the prime minister said there would be extensive pre-legislative scrutiny of separate forthcoming anti-terrorism legislation.

There would be "every opportunity for people to put forward amendments", he said.

"Now I think that is a perfectly sensible way through, and I really do believe in the light of the very strong vote in the directly elected House of  Commons it would be grossly irresponsible to continue playing about with this legislation," the prime minister added.

And Blair said he had been trying to "give our police and those who look after the safety and security of our country, our citizens, our families the powers they need to protect us from those who threaten us with terrorism".

He called on the Tories to re-consider their position on the amendments.

"They should come to their senses now," he said.