Security measures planned

David Blunkett is considering ID cards

The UK government is considering a series of new measures in the wake of the terrorist attacks on the US.

Many of them, such as compulsory identity cards, have proved controversial in the past.

The Conservatives have indicated that they would support many of the measures - but the Liberal Democrats and many Labour backbenchers may not be so happy to see the changes rushed through.

Among the measures being considered are:

Extradition - A new Europe-wide arrest warrant is planned alongside a general streamlining of the extradition process to speed it up.

There has also been a suggestion of new powers to allow a suspected terrorist to be detained indefinitely while in the UK.

The measures reduce the rights of those accused of being terrorists - and could lead to suspects being sent to countries whose legal systems have different values and punishments to the UK.

Internet surveillance - Former Home Secretary Jack Straw says that security services should have the power to unscramble encrypted e-mails.

He says that the UK and the US were forced to abandon plans to make this a legal right because of complaints by civil liberties campaigners and the computer industry.

His view is that terrorists are able to communicate through encrypted (scrambled) e-mails.

Opponents of such a move point out that there is no evidence of the terrorists using encrypted emails, so such a change would not have prevented the New York and Washington attacks.

Businesses also think it would put the UK at a competitive disadvantage to countries who do not snoop on secure e-mail.

Funding and laundering - Bureaux de Change and banks in the UK will be monitored more closely to ensure that they are not being used to launder terrorist money.

There could also be new powers to seize assets and cash of suspected terrorists.

Chancellor Gordon Brown has announced that more than £60m of funds linked to the Taleban had already been frozen.

Religious extremism - New laws could make it an offence to discriminate against religious groups or to incite hatred against them, in a similar way to the race relation laws.

In theory it will clamp down on extremists from all religions, and will give Muslims, Christians and Jews the same protection as racial crime victims.

In practice it could clash with freedom of speech - notably in a case such as Salman Rushdie - and also cause difficulties with fringe religions seen by many people as cults.

Asylum - The terror attacks have provided fresh support for tackling the already high-profile issue of asylum seekers.

The twist is that a number of countries believe that suspected terrorists are abusing the UK's asylum laws to avoid justice.

The difficulty is finding a way of getting the definition right between a terrorist and someone who the UK would genuinely want to offer asylum to because they would be persecuted in their home country.

Identity cards - The plan has now been put on the back burner to introduce identity cards along the lines of those used in continental Europe.

In theory they would replace driving licences and make passports unnecessary for travel within the European Union.

The government believes they would also help to identify illegal immigrants and to crack down on benefit fraud.

However opponents believe they would have little effect against terrorists, that they could be forged easily and that they could lead to police targeting ethnic minorities in a similar way to the now discarded "suss" - stop and search - laws.

Home office minister Lord Rooker ended speculation on their introduction by telling a fringe meeting at the Labour conference that a compulsory ID card scheme had been ruled out.