Constituency parties voice criticism over possibility of civilian casualties

Tony Blair will face grassroots criticism at next week's Labour Party conference from delegates worried by his strong support for President George Bush since the terrorist attacks on America.

Several constituency parties have defied pleas for party unity by tabling emergency motions expressing their concern at the likely retaliation by the United States. Their protests echo the fears over the likelihood of civilian casualties in Afghanistan raised by Clare Short, the Secretary of State for International Development.

Watford Labour Party says in its resolution: "We recognise that military action may be necessary to bring the culprits to justice. We ask our Government not to enter into retributive military action which exacerbates the cycle of violence and leads to the unnecessary and avoidable loss of more innocent lives."

The Watford party suggests that Osama bin Laden should not be assassinated, saying: "We believe the perpetrators of these acts of terrorism must be clearly identified and brought before a court of law."

It adds: "These attacks create a dangerous political climate for the world. We believe it vital that any response to these attacks should be multilateral and should uphold the principles of justice and the law."

In another emergency resolution, Swansea West Labour Party urges Mr Blair "to be circumspect in deciding on the level of military support he proposes to give President Bush". The Cardiff North party praises Mr Blair's efforts to secure a "calm and measured response" to the attacks but says this should be based on "prevention rather than retaliation".

Some local parties also threaten to embarrass Mr Blair by citing the atrocities in New York and Washington as evidence that President Bush's controversial "son of Star Wars" system would not work.

The Swansea West constituency party says: "The success of the attack illustrates the futility of developing such a system and the CLP therefore urges the Prime Minister to resist attempts to persuade the British Government to support the development of this or similar systems".

The North East Bedfordshire party says the tragic events of 11 September "have clearly shown that the proposed missile defence system would be completely ineffective against attack from the 'rogue elements' envisaged".

It urges Mr Blair to persuade America to switch resources from the Star Wars project to other ways of combating and eradicating the causes of terrorism.

Although most Labour activists appear to welcome Mr Blair's efforts to build an international coalition against terrorism, the tone of the hostile motions suggests that he might have some uncomfortable moments when the issue is debated at the conference in Brighton. "The mood of party members is that he should not give Bush a blank cheque," one leading grassroots activist said. "There is a lot of concern about casualties."

Blair loyalists have tabled motions saying that mass terrorism can be defeated only by global co-operation and urging the Government to stand behind America in the weeks and months ahead.

Meanwhile, trade unions hostile to Mr Blair's plans to give commercial firms a bigger role in the running of some public services are demanding that the issue is still discussed at the conference. The GMB union, led by John Edmonds, may agree to postpone a vote on the issue but is insisting on a debate.