Ministers plan to draw up new guidelines for testing cemetery headstones after more than 500 were knocked over by Lewes District Council.

Home Office minister Beverley Hughes said it was possible some councils were carrying out safety tests more rigorously than others and new advice may be needed.

She spoke out during a Westminster debate which last night heard council officials had felled 421 gravestones in Seaford alone.

MP Norman Baker said the council had been testing the headstones to check they were safe and not at risk of falling over.

But the tests - which involved applying a force of 50kg - forced large numbers to the ground.

The Lib Dem MP said: "This has caused considerable distress and anguish to relatives of the deceased who have described the actions as desecration and vandalism.

"It is clear that, for many, this action has brought back the pain of bereavement and my sympathy goes out to all those who have seen the headstones of their loved ones toppled."

Mr Baker is concerned that hundreds of headstones were knocked down in Lewes and Seaford, while only three were felled in similar tests at nearby Eastbourne.

He told MPs there were three possible reasons why so many were failing within the Lewes area.

These were "unnecessarily high standards" being applied by the district council.

Mrs Hughes said: "The fact there is a variation suggests there is, at the very least, a lack of consistency in how burial authorities and local authorities are undertaking these responsibilities.

"That itself points to the need for perhaps more effective guidance."

She said councils must take action if there is an immediate risk of a headstone falling but it would be "equally wrong" to lay down all or most of the headstones in a cemetery simply as a precautionary measure.

Mrs Hughes said: "Burial authorities must seek to get the balance right."

During the 30-minute debate, Mr Baker criticised the council for only giving relatives two weeks' notice the tests were taking place.

He said "no effort" was made by the council to contact surviving relatives.