The Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats have announced that they will both be aiming to defeat the controversial Clause 17 of the Digital Economy Bill.

The bill will be voted on in the House of Lords on Monday, and both parties have expressed concerns regarding the specific clause, which would see the Secretary of State able to amend copyright law himself without going through Parliament and to “make different provisions for different cases”.

The Lib Dems claim Clause 17 essentially gives the Government a “carte blanche” over copyright law. “We are not in the business of rubber stamping a free pass,” said a spokesman from the Liberal Democrats.

“We were originally sceptical of the clause because the scope was too wide and this hasn’t changed. Some of the amendments even increased the scope,” he added. “The Government’s responses have been too veiled. People within the industry were very specific on what the clause should be used for but instead the Government is being extremely vague.”

Lord Tim Clemens-Jones, who was on the committee for the bill, has put forward an amendment which would specifically grant powers such as file-sharing site blocking only with a court order.

The Digital Economy Bill has been widely criticised for many of its features, which originally included plans to cut-off users who persistently shared files illegally.