Parliamentary anti-spam committee, the All Party Internet Group (APIG), will visit Washington DC later this month to work out an agreement with the US government on how to counter the global nuisance of junk email.

Group members including e-Envoy Andrew Pinder and MPs Derek Wyatt, Brian White and Andrew Miller will meet with US senators and officials.

They will discuss how legislation in Europe, the UK and US could be better aligned to fight spam.

The delegation will push for the US to allow consumers to deliberately 'opt-in' if they want spam, rather than their current 'opt-out' approach.

APIG said this is the first time a UK parliamentary delegation has met with counterparts in the US to discuss common global tactics to counter spam.

The group's chairman, Wyatt, said: "As 90 per cent of all spamming emails originate in the US, we must try and persuade our political colleagues in Washington that their current opt-out system might just ensure that the internet becomes blocked forever, which will push up costs and act as a major disincentive to use."

Pinder added: "Spam is a growing problem for businesses and home internet users alike: it wastes resources and in some instances can be extremely offensive."