THE North-East's longest-serving MP last night ended months of speculation and announced he was standing down at the next General Election.

Durham North MP Giles Radice, who has represented the region at Westminster since 1973, said the constituency needed a younger person to champion its interests.

''I am already 64 and, if the next parliament runs its normal course, I will be 68 by the end of that parliament,'' said Mr Radice in an open letter to his constituents.

Speculation has been rife for months that the MP, first elected to the Commons in 1973 for the old Chester-le-Street seat, would be standing down.

Last night, Mr Radice said: "Contrary to ill-informed Press speculation, I did not make my decision about retiring until last weekend."

The MP, chairman of the influential Commons' Treasury committee and pro-European, is now expected to go to the House of Lords.

But party sources denied that Mr Radice, MP for Durham North since 1983, had struck a deal with Tony Blair to quit shortly before the expected General Election to let Labour bosses bring in a favoured candidate.

''There's no deal - it was his own decision,'' said a North-East Labour source, who insisted that Durham North party members would select the new candidate, not Labour HQ at Millbank in London.

However, Mr Radice's decision will spark a fierce race for the Labour constituency, where he had a 26,299 majority in 1997.

Downing Street aide David Miliband has already been linked with the seat and last night party sources did not rule out a bid from Tory defector Shaun Woodward. One North-East observer wondered whether former North-East Euro-MP Alan Donnelly would be interested.

There was also speculation that Mr Radice's decision to step down on age grounds would put pressure on other of the region's elderly MPs to quit at the next election.