Beleaguered Home Secretary John Reid is to take the first step towards introducing compulsory lie detector tests for paedophiles to assess whether they are at risk of re-offending, it has been disclosed.
The Home Office confirmed a report in the Sunday Times that Mr Reid would introduce an amendment to legislation going through Parliament to enable trial polygraph tests to be carried out.
The move is likely to be seen as an attempt to reassert his battered authority in the wake of the prisons overcrowding crisis, which has seen at least two child sex offenders set free because of the shortage of jail places.
Labour originally pledged to introduce compulsory lie detector tests for sex offenders in the party's 2005 general election manifesto.
A spokeswoman said that, following representations from backbench MPs, it would now be introduced as an amendment to the National Offender Management Services Bill.
"John Reid has agreed to include it as a Government amendment. What this amendment will do is legislate for us to trial these tests," the spokeswoman said.
