AN ANTI-WAR protester who has kept a noisy vigil outside Parliament for six years must be silenced, a Hampshire MP has said.

Julian Lewis, Tory MP for New Forest East, said the noise emanating from Brian Haw and his supporters in Parliament Square was "unbearable".

Dr Lewis said: "There can surely be no human right to fill the square with incessant amplified noise which interferes with the ability of Members to do their work and which is a distraction and a danger to the police who are in the front line of giving security to the House."

The MP asked Commons Speaker Michael Martin whether a recent legal ruling permitted Mr Haw to recommence his "amplified messages at unbearably high volume".

Mr Martin replied that he had asked the Serjeant-at-Arms to investigate the matter.

Earlier this month, Mr Haw - who has staged his peace protest in Parliament Square since June 2001 - won his latest battle to continue it.