ONLY FULL AND OPEN INQUIRY WILL GIVE ANSWERS OVER IRAQ .

ONLY FULL AND OPEN INQUIRY WILL GIVE ANSWERS OVER IRAQ .

SNP Westminster Leader and Defence Spokesperson, Angus Robertson MP, has welcomed concessions to greater transparency in the inquiry into the Iraq war granted by the Prime Minster today (Thursday) but warned that anything short of total transparency would be inadequate.

Gordon Brown’s back down comes as former PM, Sir John Major and Lord Butler both publicly criticised the UK Government’s intention to hold the inquiry behind closed doors.

The SNP have led demands for an inquiry into the Iraq war, and secured the first substantive debate on the matter in October 2006 – at that time the vote was narrowly lost by just 25 votes – with 12 Labour rebels. It was backed by all Tories and Liberal Democrats.

Mr Robertson said:

“This is no time for the dithering we have come to expect from the Prime Minister.

“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.

“Service personnel, families who lost loved ones in Iraq, those people who protested against the war, and all of us who are paying for it need an explanation as to exactly how and why the Labour Government led us into this illegal conflict. Only a full and open inquiry will provide this.

“We must learn the lessons from the worst UK Foreign policy decision in living memory and this can only be done through an open investigation.

“The SNP have been pressing for years on this issue, and will continue to push until the full story about the events which led to the war in Iraq and the conflict itself are known.”