David Lammy has called on film and music companies to help reduce demand for pirated material among broadband users.

According to the Guardian, the intellectual property minister told a Labour party conference that relying on the threat of legal action to limit supply of copyrighted material would not be enough alone.

Developing the stance set out by business secretary Lord Mandelson last week, Mr Lammy argued that content providers need to work with broadband suppliers to provide attractive alternatives to illegal downloads.

The newspaper reported that he is to tell the Motion Picture Association of American in the US: "Tackling supply isn't enough. We need to tackle demand as well.

"Many otherwise law-abiding people believe they are causing no harm when they buy or download illegal copyright goods."

There has been a strong reaction to the government's new stance on broadband filesharing.

Earlier this week, chief executives from BT, Orange and TalkTalk called for a policy rethink in a letter to the Times.