Gordon Brown has suffered a crushing defeat on extending detention time limits for terror suspects.

The House of Lords overwhelmingly rejected the move to increase the time suspected terrorists can be held without charge from 28 days to 42.

Peers defeated the measure by 309 votes to 118 - a majority of 191 - after an impassioned debate.

A coalition of Tory and Liberal Democrat peers and Labour rebels backed a move by crossbencher Lord Dear, a former police chief inspector, to bar any extension beyond 28 days in the Counter-Terrorism Bill.

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith later announced the 42-day clause will be dropped from the Bill and the measure will instead be the subject of a separate piece of legislation to be brought to Parliament if required.

She said: "I do not believe, as some Hon Members clearly do, that it is enough to simply cross our fingers and hope for the best.

"Mr Speaker, that is not good enough. Because when it comes to national security, there are certain risks I'm not prepared to take.

"I am not prepared to risk leaving the British people without the protections they need."

Former shadow Home Secretary David Davis, who resigned from the Commons then won a by-election over the issue, said: "The Government has undertaken a spectacular climbdown, and has come up with a proposal strikingly similar to the Civil Contingencies Act offered over a year ago.

"This demonstrates only too clearly that this measure has always been all about politics."

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