Keighley MP Ann Cryer was among 49 Labour rebels who dealt Tony Blair his first ever House of Commons defeat on Wednesday, voting against the Government's proposed terror legislation.

The measure, to hold terror suspects for up to 90 days without charge, was defeated by 322 votes to 291. MPs instead opted for a compromise, extending the maximum detention period from 14 to 28 days.

Mrs Cryer, pictured, said: "I think that Parliament demonstrated that it's there to do a certain job and it did that job very well. We're not there to be rubber stamps. We're there to question. We actually have a very long and quite good history of checks and balances and keeping the executive in check.

"Too often we're criticised for rubber stamping what the Government wants to do. I think we did rather well last night. I didn't join the Labour Party to say yes to everything. I'm here to argue my corner. If I think things are going wrong, I'll speak against it."

Speaking about the Government's proposed terror legislation, Mrs Cryer said: "90 days -- I just think it's going too far. Very few people are held for 14 days and yet we are being asked to go against everything that I regard as our human right, which is that you should be charged quite early. If say, and this is very unlikely, someone was picked up in Keighley because it was felt they were involved in activities preparatory to a terrorist act, the Keighley community would get very upset.

"With the new bill he could have been locked up for 90 days without anyone knowing what the charges were. If I thought for a moment that that upset would be worthwhile I would say yes, but I don't understand why it should take 90 days to levy a charge. They should be able to present enough information to press charges in the 28 days."