TROOPS intended to protect the North-East and Yorkshire from terror attack have been sent to Iraq because the Army is overstretched, MPs warned yesterday.

A highly-critical report by the Labour-dominated Commons defence committee raised the alarm over a dramatic shrinking of the region's two Civil Contingency Reaction Forces (CCRF).

The CCRFs - set up this year to help the emergency services cope with a terrorist outrage or a major disaster - are each meant to have 500 volunteers.

But, said the MPs, 147 members of the northern force, which covers the North-East and is based in Durham City, were away in Iraq at the time of their inquiry in May.

The other force, which covers Yorkshire and has its headquarters in Pontefract, was missing 99 soldiers, also sent to help keep the peace in Iraq.

The report said: "The Ministry of Defence has still not taken seriously enough the need for a predictable element to be available for civil emergencies at home.

"We remain to be convinced that the MoD has adequately thought through the use of reserve forces at home and away in an era of constant operational commitments and a significant threat to the UK."

The MPs also rebuked Sir Kevin Tebbit, the MoD's top civil servant, for denying it was a "significant issue", insisting: "The numbers concerned were not small."

But the MoD hit back, insisting it was always intended that only about 350 troops in each 500-strong CCRF were expected to be available at any one time.

A spokesman said: "There is meant to be slack in the system, so the committee's concerns about this are unfounded."

CCRF volunteers receive an extra five days' training every year and at least two days' training to familiarise them with tasks carried out by the ambulance and fire brigades.

The warning about protection for the region came as the MPs attacked wider problems of under-manning and overstretch, which threatened to put troops' lives at risk.

They said the MoD was in danger of over-emphasising the gains of new hardware and stressed that, in many situations, there was "no substitute" for troops.

The report was drawn up in response to last year's defence White Paper, which heralded a move to new technology to maximise accuracy and firepower. Forces would in future need fewer tanks, warships and aircraft, the White Paper argued.

But the committee warned the technology was as yet unproven and any attempt to cut back the size of the forces would place "unsustainable demands" on service personnel.

Bruce George, the committee's Labour chairman, said: "I wouldn't like to be a Prime Minister if we were subjected to a massive terrorist attack, and then the media say that last round of cuts really was damaging to our security."

* More soldiers from the region are flying out for a six-month tour of duty in Iraq.

The squadron from 2 Signal Regiment, based in York, will be made up of regular, Territorial Army and Gurk-ha troops.