The security services could be given access to footage from CCTV cameras that will allow them to spy on people across the country.

Home Office officials have had talks with the information watchdog to establish whether it is possible to make images available to track terrorist suspects.

Currently, the police and security services have to apply for permission to examine images taken from thousands of cameras across Britain.

A spokesman for the Information Commissioner's Office confirmed yesterday that the meeting had "involved discussions about national security and the issue of cameras and traffic".

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Civil liberties campaigners expressed concern that the move would expand Britain's "surveillance society".

Guy Herbert, the general secretary of the NO2ID campaign, said: "I don't think anyone who is sensible would object to proper regulation of CCTV images by the security services or the police in a real inquiry.

"But the worry is that it might become a routine fishing investigation that produces two different effects: that everyone becomes a suspect and that it is not controlled."

The proposal comes as Gordon Brown unveils today a new National Security Strategy in which he will summarise all the threats to the country's interests.

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