Now controlling clothes and friends can be crime!

Instead, they said, crimes of domestic abuse should include non-violent acts against wives or husbands.But last night, criminologists warned that any definition of abuse that included non-violent acts would hand huge 'arbitrary' power to the police.

Dr David Green, director of the Civitas think tank said: 'Lots of couples are going to exchange angry words from time to time but there's not the least chance of it turning into a fight. For others a raised voice or a fierce glare might be terrifying.'

He warned: 'It's very easy for society to slide in to a kind of police state where police can define something as against the law when in reality they are a bit of a barney but not something the police should get involved in.