Brown has 'more to do' to win vote

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith and chief whip Geoff Hoon briefed colleagues on the latest analysis of the Labour rebellion when the Cabinet met on Tuesday morning.

Asked if the Prime Minister was confident of winning Wednesday's vote, the spokesman told reporters: "The general position was that there was still more to do."

He insisted that everyone, on all sides of the dispute, was agreed on the need to extend the present 28-day limit. The only question was over the level of safeguards required to protect civil liberties.

The spokesman played down the involvement of security service MI5 in the dispute. MI5 director general Jonathan Evans took the rare step on Monday night of issuing a public statement clarifying the service's position on the issue after reports at the weekend claimed it did not support the 42-day proposal.

Mr Evans said the security service was not "the appropriate body" to advise ministers on such issues but noted the challenge posed to the police by the "increasingly complex and international character" of recent terror cases.

Mr Brown's spokesman said: "Jonathan Evans's statement speaks for itself."

He said he was not aware whether any ministers other than Foreign Secretary David Miliband - forced to cut short a Middle East visit on Monday night to fly home for the anti-terror vote - had been ordered back to Westminster to shore up support.

Meanwhile, Scotland's chief legal officer, Lord Advocate Elish Angiolini, has become the latest senior figure to publicly question the need to increase the limit. She told the Herald newspaper the move was "not supported by prosecution evidence".

It means the legal officers responsible for endorsing any use of the extended police powers both north and south of the border have now publicly expressed doubts.