EAST Lancashire MP Greg Pope has told the Government that the detention of terror suspects, including Britons, without trial in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, is "unacceptable."

He said it was undermining the justifiable war on terror.

The Hyndburn MP spoke out in a special debate on terrorism at Westminster when he backed the attacks on Iraq and Afghanistan.

But he warned that some countries, such as China, were using the battle against terrorists to repress their own people.

Mr Pope said: "I am happy to support the war on terror and I have been a loyal supporter of the Government on that, including on the war in Iraq.

"However, we must not allow the war on terror to diminish our respect for human rights.

"It is impossible to wage war to promote human rights, as arguably we have in Afghanistan and Iraq, while at the same time withholding the human rights of our opponents."

And he said: "In that context, what is happening in Guantanamo Bay undermines the credibility of the United States in particular, and also of the western nations allied to the United States when we acquiesce in that.

"We should be far more robust in telling the Americans that the human rights situation in Guantanamo is unacceptable."

But he said that as well as tackling terrorism, western nations had to tackle the causes of terrorism.

That involved trying to sort out problems in the Middle East and Kashmir.