Government says police would be able to access data if they could demonstrate it was to prevent a 'terror-related' crime

The government is to revive a plan to store every email, webpage visit and phone call made in the UK, a move that goes against a pledge made by the Liberal Democrats ahead of the election.

The interception modernisation programme, proposed under Labour, would require internet service providers to retain data about how people have used the internet, and for phone networks to record details about phone calls, for an unspecified period.

The government says police and security services would be able to access that data if they could demonstrate it was to prevent a "terror-related" crime.

The revival of the programme is buried in the strategic defence and security review, which was published yesterday. The review says the programme is required to "maintain capabilities that are vital to the work these agencies do, to protect the public".

Ahead of the election, the Lib Dems said they would "end the storage of internet and email records without good reason", a pledge which appears in the coalition agreement

The review says communications data provides evidence in court, and has played a role in "every major security service counterterrorism operation, and in 95% of all serious organised crime investigations".

It says: "We will introduce a programme to preserve the ability of the security, intelligence and law enforcement agencies to obtain communication data and to intercept communications within the appropriate legal framework … We will put in place the necessary regulations and safeguards to ensure that our response to this technology challenge is compatible with the government's approach to information storage and civil liberties."

The Home Office confirmed today it would introduce legislation, but said no timetable or estimate of costs had yet been set.

The cost of the programme has been estimated at a minimum of £2bn by the London School of Economics, in a paper published last year.

The Home Office responded to an Open Rights Group's Freedom of Information request in December 2008, accepting that the issues surrounding IMP were of "significant public interest". It provided a limited number of responses but declined to disclose further details on the grounds that it related to information relating to security bodies, national security, law enforcement, formulation of government policy and prejudice to commercial interests.

Guy Herbert, of the No2ID group, which opposed ID cards, said: "It is disappointing that the new ministers seem to be continuing their predecessors' tradition of credulousness."

Isabella Sankey, of Liberty, told the Telegraph: "Any move to amass more of our sensitive data and increase powers for processing would amount to a significant U-turn."

• This article was amended on 22 October 2010. The original said the Home Office had not responded to a Freedom of Information request on IMP. This was incorrect and has been deleted and replaced with an explanation of the Home Office's response.