The number of police Special Branch officers has more than doubled in the past 25 years, according to research by the civil liberties group Statewatch.

"The combination of the 'war on terrorism' and demands to combat EU-wide protests on a range of issues - peace and the environment, racism and globalisation - means that domestically the political police - Special Branch and MI5 - are more intrusive in everyday political activity than at any other point in British history," claims Tony Bunyan, editor of the Statewatch bulletin.