A NORTH-East Labour Euro-MP was accused last night of risking the future of the region's top football clubs after supporting European plans for radical changes to the transfer system.

Barbara ''Mo'' O'Toole was also under fire for allegedly undermining Prime Minister Tony Blair's bid to keep the current system of how football players are transferred.

Martin Callanan, Tory Euro-MP for the North-East, said: ''I am staggered at her unquestioning support for commission proposals that could cause so much damage to football in the North-East and throughout the country."

But last night, Ms O'Toole denied she was at odds with the Prime Minister and accused Mr Callanan of political points scoring.

The current system, where each club has the final say on whether players under contract can move to another club, is under threat for allegedly breaching European Union employment law on free movement of labour.

Football organisations, including European soccer body UEFA, are in talks with the European Commission over a compromise that could involve banning international transfers for players under 18.

But all 20 Premier League chairmen, including bosses of Newcastle United, Middlesbrough and Sunderland, are backing the current system, which nets huge fees for the major clubs.

Only this week, at the United Nations summit in New York, The Prime Minister urged commission president Romano Prodi to block the reform plan.

On the same day, Ms O'Toole backed the commission's reform plans and criticised teams who simply buy-up talent.

She told the European Parliament: ''It is important that local people should be inspired to join their clubs.

''I would therefore say that the most enduring teams should be built up from scratch and not simply bought up.''

However, Ms O'Toole said last night that she was backing reform of the system on the condition that small clubs did not lose out.

But Mr Callanan, who opposes the commission's reform plans, said: ''This is another case of Labour saying one thing at home and doing another thing in Europe.''

Kevin Fletcher, editor of Newcastle United Football Club's football website Talk of the Tyne, said: "Mo O'Toole should be more supportive of clubs in the North-East. The whole thing of football could change.

"But, I have to say, clubs and their lawyers will still get around it.