Tony Blair today indicated that the death toll from Thursday's London bombings may rise to over 70 as he addressed the House of Commons for the first time since the attacks.

Promising the "most vigorous and intensive" hunt for the perpetrators, the Prime Minister spoke of the Government's concern for the bereaved families who are receiving counselling from trained officers.

While repeating the official death toll of 52, Mr Blair said that four days after the bombings, the numbers of "of potential victims can now be brought within reasonable range of the actual victims. Some 74 families now have police Family Liaison Officers with them."

Families of the missing have started to express frustration at their long wait for victims to be identified. Marie Fatayi-Williams, a Roman Catholic married to a Muslim, has flown in from Nigeria in search of her son Anthony, an oil industry executive who is believed to have boarded the number 30 bus which exploded in Tavistock Square.

She said: "This is now the fifth day, five days on, five days on, and we are waiting to know what happened to him. I, his mother, I need to know what happened to Anthony."

But while acknowledging the pain of the families, Mr Blair asked for patience while the emergency services continued the difficult task of identifying victims. "The police are proceeding here with some caution," said Mr Blair.

"In previous terrorist attacks of a similar kind in other countries, mistakes have been made which are incredibly distressing. The effect of a bomb is to make identification sometimes very, very hard and harrowing. I wish it could be quicker but I think the only wise course is to follow precisely the advice of Coroner and police and that is what we will do."

And the Scotland Yard Commissioner Sir Ian Blair agreed that it was important to make sure there were no mistakes in the identification process. "I appeal to everybody to give us time. We have got to get this right," he said. He agreed that the death toll will increase but "certainly not into the three figures".

The first victims of the bombings were named today. Susan Levy, 53, a mother of two from Hertfordshire, was killed on the Piccadilly Line train that was hit between Russell Square and King's Cross, and Gladys Wundowa, 51, who worked at University College London, died on the number 30 bus that exploded in Tavistock Place.

The overwhelming majority of Londoners intend to stick to their normal travel routines and to existing plans to make trips to the capital, according to a new Populus poll for The Times.

The poll was undertaken between Friday and Sunday, following the four terrorist attacks in London on Thursday morning. Populus asked both about peoples' attitudes to possible new anti-terrorist measures and about whether they were intending to change their travel plans or trips to London.

There was overwhelming support for giving the police new powers to arrest terrorist suspects and to stop and search people, and baggage at stations. Full details of the poll, among 1,005 people aged over 18 between July 8 and 10, will appear in The Times tomorrow.

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