A NORTH-East MP has become the first Labour backbencher to pledge to rebel against Tony Blair's plans to hold terror suspects for 90 days without charge.

Sunderland South MP Chris Mullin, a former former Foreign Office minister, said it "cannot be justified" to lock up suspects for so long without judicial scrutiny.

And he warned the proposal - to be voted on tomorrow - would lead to innocent people suffering the "trauma" of losing their jobs, their homes and their friends.

The Terrorism Bill, being introduced in the wake of the London bombings, will extend the maximum period of detention before charge from 14 to 90 days.

Mr Blair has insisted the change is necessary to allow the police to carry out complicated investigations, involving studying hours of CCTV footage, or decrypting computer material.

But Mr Mullin said the 90-day rule would inevitably lead the police to "string out" investigations unnecessarily, when 14 days would be ample time.

In a newspaper article, he wrote: "I do not accept that it can be justified to hold suspects for 90 days without trial on the say so of a district judge.

"Terrible though it is, the rise of Islamist terrorism should not become an excuse for throwing away the rule book."

The Prime Minister is facing a certain backbench revolt over the Bill, although many backbenchers may abstain tomorrow in the hope of a climbdown at its committee stage.

Since leaving the Government after the May General Election, Mr Mullin has been increasingly critical of policies in the "war on terror". He accused Mr Blair of turning a blind eye to practices in the US of sending terror suspects to be tortured in "secret gulags" in other countries.