Police have been granted unprecedented stop-and-search powers to combat terrorist activity at next month's Labour Party conference.

Officers have been authorised they can stop anyone, regardless of whether or not they are acting suspiciously.

It is the first time such powers have been granted in Brighton and Hove as part of the biggest security operation ever mounted in the city.

The Home Office is spending a record £3.7 million to make sure the conference at the Brighton Centre runs safely.

Assistant Chief Constable Geoff Williams said: "The stop-and-search power is brought in as a deterrent to and a means of detecting anyone engaged in activities connected with terrorism.

"Officers have been briefed on the practical and ethical use of this power, and the local independent advisory groups and the Racial Harassment Forums have been consulted and informed about it.

"Each stop, whether or not this results in a search, will be recorded and officers have been given explanatory leaflets to pass on to those members of the public who have been stopped under the power.

"Sussex Police acknowledges the wide ranging extent of this power and we have taken steps to ensure its use is monitored to ensure it is proportionate.

"It is kept under constant review to ensure its use is necessary."

At a press conference announcing Operation Otter earlier this month, Sussex Police said there was no intelligence that the conference, which runs from September 25 to 29, is a terror target.

Chief Superintendent Jeremy Paine said residents will have to endure disruption with road and pavement closures and there would be more armed police on the streets and more stops and searches than in previous years.

An island site will be created around the Brighton Centre and will encompass The Grand hotel, the Russell Road NCP car park and the Hilton Brighton Metropole Hotel.

Strengthened barriers, fencing and turnstiles will counter vehicle bombers and filter visitors into lines for bag searches and credentials checking.

An air-exclusion zone will ban aircraft from the area and the Royal Navy will watch the seas off Brighton.

More than 1,000 police and staff will be involved, many from forces around the country.

Mr Paine urged members of the public to be vigilant and to report anything suspicious.

Adam Bates, the city's tourism chief, said the conference was vital to the city's economy and more than 13,000 jobs were dependent upon it.

The conference, he said, brought in £10 million and encouraged other business to the city from around the world.