Humberside Police have been accused of racism and violating human rights as protests mount over proposals to treat all Irish-born citizens on their patch as potential terrorist suspects.
The Labour MP Mr Kevin McNamara is to table a series of Commons questions following the leak of a memo instructing officers to report all dealings with people of Irish descent or background to Special Branch.
As Sinn Fein called on all Irish organisations in Britain to voice protests, it was unclear last night whether the Government might instruct the Irish Ambassador to Britain, Mr Edward Barrington, to raise the issue directly with the Home Secretary, Mr Jack Straw. The Chief Constable of the force, Mr David Westwood, meanwhile has promised a review following the disclosure in yesterday's Observer of "Operation Pre-Empt". It calls for routine checks on drivers - and even reports from suspicious landlords - to be reported to Special Branch amid fears of a renewed dissident republican bombing campaign in Britain.
Humberside Police have two major ports and a cluster of chemical factories on their patch regarded as possible bombing targets. Promising that nationality would not be used as the basis for suspicion, Mr Westwood said: "The use of Humberside as a route into the UK mainland to import terrorist devices cannot and will not be ignored." He added: "We must take steps to prevent the horror of terrorist action. I am not suggesting all Irish people are terrorists. Our intelligence suggests that the threat relates to Irish terror groups."
However, Mr McNamara said the Humberside approach was offensive and racist. "I thought the days of snooping on the Irish were over. This is taking us back to the 1970s," he said.
Ms Jane Winter of British-Irish Rights Watch warned miscarriages of justice could result from such measures. "We had hoped the days of `any Irishman will do' were over."
And Ms Gareth Pierce, the lawyer who helped the Guild ford Four overturn their convictions, demanded urgent clarification of how many other forces might be secretly operating similar rules. "This provides an open-ended licence for arbitrary arrest and makes everyone an informer," she said. "The police are making an entire community suspect on the basis of national origin. It violates every possible guarantee under the new Human Rights Act."
The Home Office said it did not believe the practice had spread nationwide.