But Labour will argue that taxes would have risen even more under the Tories' spending plans. David Ruffley, a Tory committee member and a former Treasury adviser, said Mr Brown was a "student chancellor" while Sir Michael Spicer, another Tory MP, told him: "You are the only person in the world now who thinks taxes are on their way down." Mr Brown disclosed that the Treasury's spending plans were based on excise duties on fuel and tobacco rising in line with inflation. But he repeatedly refused to confirm to Tory members of the committee that Labour had inherited a figure of 36 per cent when it came to power in 1997. Mr Brown's stonewalling was seen by Tory MPs as his clearest hint to date that taxes would rise under Labour. Labour would not be breaking its promises on tax if the overall tax burden rose during the lifetime of this Parliament, Gordon Brown said last night. Under a barrage of hostile questions from Tory MP, the Chancellor came close to admitting that the tax burden would be higher at the end of Labour's term in office than the level it inherited from John Major's government. "We made no promises in relation to the tax burden," Mr Brown said during a lengthy grilling by the Treasury Select Committee. "We have kept all the promises we made at the general election." He listed Labour's manifesto commitments as not increasing the basic rate or higher rate of income tax and introducing a 10p starting rate. Labour would not be breaking its promises on tax if the overall tax burden rose during the lifetime of this Parliament, Gordon Brown said last night.

He argued that the Government had gone further by cutting the basic rate to 22p from next April. Mr Brown insisted that the Government's taxation of the average family would be at its lowest level since 1972 by the end of this Parliament. He said the share of national wealth taken in tax would be 37.4 per cent last year, 37 per cent in the current financial year and 36.8 per cent next year. civil liberties could be undermined or threatened." Mr Straw said there was a "profound safeguard" against the disproportionate use of the powers, in the Human Rights Act that would come into force next year. Simon Hughes, the Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman, called for the Bill to be considered in a Special Standing Committee so that more evidence could be taken into account.. "This Bill is not intended to, nor will it, threaten in any way the right peacefully to demonstrate. It is not designed to be used in situations where demonstrations unaccountably turn ugly," he said. While the Bill puts temporary counter-terrorist measures on a permanent basis, some parts relating specifically to Northern Ireland would be still subject to annual renewal. It would repeal the Prevention of Terrorism Act but re-enact provisions giving the police special counter-terrorism powers. Mr Straw said the new wider definition of terrorism, involving the use of "serious violence against persons or property", did not create a specific offence of terrorism itself. David Winnick, the MP for Walsall North, said: "There are certain misgivings.. that perhaps under a different government...

the people who often get hurt are innocent, completely innocent." The measure, he said, was aimed at deterring, preventing and, where necessary, investigating, the "most heinous" crime: "The Terrorism Bill is about protecting, not threatening, fundamental rights." But Jeremy Corbyn, the MP for Islington North, warned that campaigning groups such as the African National Congress (ANC) were in the Eighties regarded by their governments as terrorist organisations. Mr Straw sought to assure backbenchers that peaceful demonstrations would not be covered by the new measures. There are people who claim to be in favour of so-called animal liberation who have engaged in acts which have resulted in the most serious violence to individuals and placed people under threat of their lives. "The horror of terrorist attacks is that they do not discriminate... I know of no evidence whatever that Greenpeace is involved in any activity that would remotely fall within the scope of this legislation," he said during the second-reading debate of the Terrorism Bill. Challenged specifically on the position of animal liberation groups which break into research laboratories, Mr Straw admitted that there was a "thin dividing line. The Home Secretary stressed that plans to replace existing laws with a permanent definition of terrorism would affect very few domestic activist groups. "The new definition will not catch the vast majority of so-called domestic activist groups which exist in this country today. Jack Straw defended tough new rules to combat terrorism yesterday as Labour backbenchers warned that groups such as the environmentalist Greenpeace could fall within the scope of the legislation. The Home Secretary stressed that plans to replace existing laws with a permanent definition of terrorism would affect very few domestic activist groups. Jack Straw defended tough new rules to combat terrorism yesterday as Labour backbenchers warned that groups such as the environmentalist Greenpeace could fall within the scope of the legislation.

On that basis I agree with Mr Kemp that it would have cost more than £235." Ms Filkin added that the privilege afforded to Mr Hague by Lord Archer fell under the main purpose of the Register, which she defined as providing information about financial or other benefits which an MP receives which might reasonably be thought by others to influence his actions, speeches or votes, regardless of whether the MP was in fact influenced. In a letter to Ms Filkin dated December 8 this year, Mr Hague said: "Having taken the advice of the registrar, I recognise that the use of the gymnasium could be interpreted as a benefit in kind I have therefore taken action to register it.". The Tory leader used the gym for martial arts training with Sebastian Coe, his aide. The Committee recommended that no further action should be taken other than the reprimand. In his complaint Mr Kemp, MP for Houghton and Washington East, said that Mr Hague's use of the gym was worth moren than £235, or 0.5% of an MP's salary of £47,000, which is the threshold for registration. The gym is paid for by residents of the luxury apartment block, on the south bank of the Thames, and is for their private use and that of their guests. Mr Hague explained to Ms Filkin that he had been using it regularly, at Lord Archer's invitation, since January 1998, and had paid for his own tuition and equipment. Ms Filkin said: "In my view, the benefit enjoyed by Mr Hague without charge was a substantial one, and it seems reasonable to estimate its value by comparison with the subscription which would be paid by a member of the public for regular use of a gymnasium in London. Her view was supported by the Commons' Committee on Standards and Privileges. Mr Hague did register his use of the gym on November 29 this year, but only after he received advice to do so from Ms Filkin. There were only 1,200 fighters left in the city, a lot fewer than previously estimated, Mr Kaliev said. Many left at the start of the month, just before the Russian encirclement of the city.Guerrillas split, page 12. Tory leader William Hague was criticised by the Parliamentary watchdog over his use of a gym in Lord Archer's apartment block.

Tory leader William Hague was criticised by the Parliamentary watchdog over his use of a gym in Lord Archer's apartment block. Elizabeth Filkin,Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, upheld a complaint by Labour MP Fraser Kemp that Mr Hague had not lodged his use of the gym as a material benefit in the Commons Register of Members' Interests. She said that Mr Hague should have registered the benefit as soon as he started to use the gym on a regular basis in January last year. Last week guerrillas fled their trenches in a sector of the front when gas, which may have escaped from an industrial plant hit by a shell, killed six civilians Russians occupied their positions. The Russians have admitted giving their soldiers antidotes for chemical weapons, claiming they might be used by the guerrillas. Mr Kaliev, who spoke to many guerrillas and leaders in Grozny, said they expressed as much hatred for the Wahhabis, an Islamic extremist group, as the Russians.When the war began the Chechens hoped Russian units would incur heavy losses in street fighting in Grozny but they have become dispirited by the Russians' reliance on air and artillery attacks. CHECHEN FIGHTERS in Grozny fear Russian troops will use chemical weapons when they finally attack the city. The claim was made by Rustam Kaliev, a Chechen journalist who got out of the capital yesterday by crawling through a tunnel under an embankment where Russian troops stood. Mr Hague had maintained that the choice of candidate was a matter for London party members, but he is now being blamed for the confusion and for not blocking Jeffrey Archer's bid much earlier.A delighted Mr Norris said he was relieved the decision would now rest in the hands of the party's 40,000 members in the capital.Asked if he expected any more revelations about his love life to come out, he said: "I am not completely insane and I would have to be if I was going to go into an election like this knowing there was some skeleton lurking in my cupboard.". Mr Hague admitted the past three days had been difficult for the party, but contrasted Conservative democracy with "Labour's dictatorial control".However, even Tory MPs normally loyal to their leader admitted the disarray had raised serious questions about his judgement and prompted renewed speculation at Westminster about a move to oust him before the general election.Privately, Hague allies conceded his "hands off" approach to the selection process had backfired.