European judges were warned by the Home Secretary yesterday that the Government would come under increasing pressure to pull out of the European Convention on Human Rights unless they found in favour of planned reforms aimed at making it easier to deport suspected foreign terrorists from Britain.

"If people start to believe that decisions at the European Court, in operating the European Convention, are not broadly in accordance with a consensus about how rights should be defended, then there will be some very difficult questions about the convention itself in Britain," Charles Clarke said.