Yvette Cooper
© GettyYvette Cooper (pictured) has accused Theresa May, the Home Secretary, of 'putting political deals and fudges ahead of national security'
Emergency powers to relocate terrorism suspects from London to other parts of the country have been prepared, despite a pledge earlier this year that the measure would be scrapped.

The police are understood to be worried at the number of terrorism suspects who could return to the capital ahead of the Olympics.

Last night, the Home Office published draft legislation which will be put before Parliament in "exceptional circumstances."

It backs up legislation to scrap controversial control orders, which allowed terrorism suspects to be moved away from their homes and placed under loose house arrest.

The replacement Terrorism Prevention and Investigation Measures (TPIMS) will shorten the curfews and allow nine of 12 suspects who have been forced to leave their homes, to return.

However, the Government has accepted that additional "relocation orders", upheld by the High Court last month, may still be needed in exceptional circumstances.

Theresa May, the Home Secretary, told the House of Commons in January that she was planning legislation which will only be put before parliament in an emergency.

However, Tom Brake, co-chairman of the Liberal Democrat backbench committee on home affairs, warned that the party's backbenchers would fight plans to reintroduce relocation to TPIMS.

He said: "Relocation is a crunch issue for the Liberal Democrats. We fought hard to get it removed from TPIMS.

"It has gone from TPIMS. I cannot foresee the circumstances in which we would support their reintroduction.

"But unlike Labour's control orders, this drastic new power would be subject to Parliamentary debate and approval first and if the Liberal Democrats were not convinced the extreme circumstances necessitated the reintroduction of such a draconian power, we would vote against it."

Yvette Cooper, the shadow home secretary, said the Government plan was "irresponsible, incompetent and potentially dangerous - especially for London".

She added: "After pressure from the police, the intelligence services and the Opposition, the Government has finally admitted there is a problem with their plans to weaken counter-terror legislation and remove the ability to relocate very dangerous terror suspects. The trouble is they are refusing to solve it."

Miss Cooper said the emergency legislation was a "shambolic process" that was "impractical and chaotic, especially when Parliament is not sitting" and accused Theresa May, the Home Secretary, of "putting political deals and fudges ahead of national security".

Shami Chakrabarti, director of the civil rights group Liberty, said the new orders "still allow dangerous terrorists to live amongst us whilst innocent people are punished forever with no opportunity to stand trial and clear their name."

The Enhanced Terrorism Prevention and Investigation Measures Bill will provide powers for the Home Secretary to impose "enhanced TPIM notices" specifying more stringent restrictions than those available under the standard TPIM Bill.

They include the power to relocate the individual without their consent to a different part of the country, geographical boundaries, and tighter restrictions on association and communications.

The bill sets out a number of conditions, including that the Secretary of State is satisfied on the balance of probabilities that the individual is, or has been, involved in new terrorism-related activity and that it is necessary, to protect members of the public.