UNSOLICITED junk email is to come under international scrutiny thanks to the Sittingbourne and Sheppey Labour MP Derek Wyatt.

The MP is organising a 'spam' summit on July 1 as part of a series of events to discuss the proliferation of junk email on the internet.

Mr Wyatt has been a long-time campaigner for tougher powers to clamp down on spam, particularly lewd emails. He said: "It is blocking our servers, it is costing us money, and we don't want it."

The summit in the House of Commons, which Mr Wyatt will chair, will be followed by a series of evidence sessions throughout July.

The focus of the discussions will be policy and technology issues and it is hoped American and European politicians responsible for internet issues will join British politicians at the event.

Recent figures suggest there has been a 100 per cent rise in spam compared with a year ago, much of which is pornography, scams, financial services and product offers.

According to Mr Wyatt, 90 per cent or spam comes from America or Mexico. He wants internet service providers to sign up to a charter making them take responsibility for the content of emails sent to their users.

He added: "We hope this will be the first of four or five summits. We are getting huge support."