The home secretary said it was "not surprising" that people continued to "cock a snook" at the authorities.

"The legislation we are moving this afternoon is an endeavour that we are no longer prepared to tolerate it," he said.

But the Anti Social Behaviour Bill was attacked by the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats.

Shadow home secretary Oliver Letwin dismissed it as a "legislative press release" designed to demonstrate the government was doing something about anti-social behaviour.

For the Lib Dems, Simon Hughes branded the bill as an "election ploy" aimed at winning seats for Labour in the forthcoming local poll.

Gridlock?

But Mr Blunkett insisted that urgent action was required and people were fed up with political "gridlock".

Among its provisions the bill - which is expected to cost �67m to implement in its first year - would allow private security guards to hand out �80 on-the-spot fines.

Councils will also be given more power to tackle noisy neighbours including powers to confiscate stereos and TVs.

There will also be new police power to order groups of two or more under-16s to clear out of designated areas.

Other powers for the police will give them power to close and seal crack dens for up to six months.

Noisy pubs and clubs will be targeted where they cause a nuisance with environmental health officers getting power to close them immediately.

Can do?

Mr Blunkett insisted the new powers would enable local officials to do their jobs.

"I believe that the best of staff at local level don't want to pick up a telephone and say 'I really would like to help you but I don't have the power'.

He added: "People rapidly get the message [over anti-social behaviour].

It is a political ploy of a Bill, it's a shop window Bill, it's a window-dressing of a Bill Simon Hughes

"And if they get the message they can get away with it, they get away with it.

"If they get the message that somebody is going to clamp down, it's amazing how quickly their behaviour can and must change."

Mr Letwin said that the bill was not one that deserved to be voted against.

"What it deserves is to be slightly improved in committee and then permanently forgotten because there will be very, very few people in this country who will be able to remember it existed in a year from now."

'Demonising youngsters'

Mr Hughes said: "It is a political ploy of a bill, it's a shop window bill, it's a window-dressing of a bill."

Large parts of the bill must either be removed or amended or the Liberal Democrats would oppose it at the later stages, he added.

Civil rights campaigners have raised fears about the potential effects of the new laws.

Mark Littlewood, director of campaigns at civil rights group Liberty, said: "The bill creates excessive powers that risk demonising young people - and treating any group of young people, however innocent, as a gathering of near-criminals.

"The powers this bill proposes risk judging people not by what they do but simply by what other people think of them - and taking police action on that basis. This must be a concern."

The bill later received an unopposed second reading in the Commons and now faces more detailed scrutiny.