Gordon Brown's proposals to detain terrorism suspects without charge for up to 42 days thrown out by peers

This article is more than 11 years old

This article is more than 11 years old

The government is expected to tear up its plans to detain terrorism suspects for up to 42 days without charge after peers overwhelmingly rejected the proposal.

Jacqui Smith, the home secretary, is set to annouce plans to drop the specific proposal on detention without charge but retain the substantive part of the government's counter-terror bill.

The move comes after the House of Lords backed an amendment to block the detention plans by 309 to 118, a majority of 191, during the committee stage of the bill.

In a face-saving measure, the government will publish separate legislation on 42 days that it will hold in abeyance in case it is ever needed.

Although a government defeat had been widely predicted, the scale of the rebellion will be seen as a huge victory for civil liberties campaigners and will have made Smith wary of trying to force the measure through the Commons again.

The damage to the prime minister, Gordon Brown – who as recently as this morning continued to urge peers to back the bill – may be limited by the financial crisis dominating the headlines.

Brown has declined to say whether he would use the Parliament Act to force the legislation on to the statute books. If he did, there would probably be a prolonged period of "ping-pong" with peers - the process in which an amended bill is thrown back and forth from one chamber to another for repeated votes.

If this was to end in deadlock, Brown would have to wait a year before using the Parliament Act. Campaigners against 42-day detention believe that the prime minister is not prepared for such a battle, as he cannot guarantee another Commons majority.

Opponents of the bill claimed that any extension of the current 28-day limit for detaining suspects without charge was unnecessary and would erode civil liberties.

Ministers argued that the increasing complexity of terror plots meant police needed more time to gather evidence.

The measure was passed in the Commons in June by nine votes after the nine Democratic Unionist MPs supported the government.

Since then, the number of opposition MPs has increased by two. John Howell replaced Boris Johnson, who had already stood down as MP for Henley and therefore did not vote, and John Mason won Glasgow East for the SNP from Labour.

Tony Blair suffered his first Commons defeat over an attempt to extend detention to 90 days in 2005. Parliament agreed instead to the 28-day limit that is currently in place.