Government plans to identify potential troublemakers even before they are born have been denounced as "eugenics" by former Labour Cabinet minister Tony Benn.
Mr Benn dismissed the plan as one of "a million new gimmicks" outlined by the Prime Minister.
"This one about identifying troublesome children in the foetus - this is eugenics, the sort of thing Hitler talked about," he told BBC Five Live.
Mr Benn, who stood down as an MP in 2001, added: "I just think that people don't believe him any more."
His comments echo a warning by Anastasia de Waal, head of the family and education unit at think tank Civitas, that labelling children problematic before they are born was "teetering on genetic determinism".
They come ahead of a major policy speech by Tony Blair about the strategy on Tuesday.
The Prime Minister sparked controversy when he made the case last week for early state intervention in "nuisance" families to prevent their children becoming "a menace to society".
He said problem teenagers could be identified before they were born and that action had to be taken "pre-birth" if necessary.
And he added: "If we are not prepared to predict and intervene far more early then there are children who are growing up - in families which we know are dysfunctional - and the kids a few years down the line are going to be a menace to society and actually a threat to themselves."
Defending the plans, social exclusion minister Hilary Armstrong insisted that state intervention "can work" and that the Government must become involved earlier to prevent problems developing.
