SNP AND PLAID DEMAND IRAQ INQUIRY TIMETABLE.

SNP AND PLAID DEMAND IRAQ INQUIRY TIMETABLE.

SNP and Plaid Cymru Westminster leaders today (Wednesday) called on the prime minister to set out a timetable for a full inquiry into the Iraq war, following the announcement that UK forces will have "completed their tasks" and withdraw from Iraq by the end of July next year.

SNP Westminster leader and Defence spokesperson, Angus Robertson MP, who visited Iraq in October, said:

”I am delighted that our brave troops are to come home, and it won’t be a moment too soon.

“It has been six years since the invasion of Iraq, when Labour dragged us into an illegal war on the basis of false information.

”Now that there is a timetable for withdrawing our forces, there is no reason why we cannot have a timetable for an inquiry.

“By every measurement this has been the biggest foreign policy disaster in modern times, and those responsible for it have never answered the most fundamental questions about why we were led into this war.

“The claim that the war was about weapons of mass destruction was a blatant lie, a mere cover story unsupported by the facts, which has cost the lives of thousands of civilians and hundreds of our brave soldiers.

“As an MP representing a military constituency, nobody supports our brave forces more than I do. Our military have done us proud, and it is no wonder that a poll just this week showed that our troops themselves are much more popular than the wars they are fighting.

“However, the Government that put our troops in the face of danger must not be above question, and today, the families of those who have paid with their lives, those people who protested, and all of us who are paying for it, still demand and deserve answers.”

Plaid Cymru Westminster leader, Elfyn Llwyd MP, who raised the issue at Prime Minister’s Questions, said:

"I am deeply disappointed that the UK Government are refusing to commit to a full inquiry into the Iraq war. This is completely unacceptable, and along with the SNP, we are once again calling for a timetable to be put in place to ensure that this inquiry will take place.

"Answers are needed. We have been pressing for years on this issue, and it's high time that the UK Government told us the truth."

Official SNP press release.