Prime Minister's question asked in the House of Commons, by Paul Rowen (Liberal Democrat). It was answered on Wednesday, 14 December 2005 on behalf of the Prime Minister.

Engagements

Question: Will the Prime Minister explain why the Government have decided against holding a public inquiry into the events leading up to 7/7? Does he accept that, for the victims and their families, that is the only right way forward?

Answer: I do accept that people want to know exactly what happened, and we will make sure that they do. There will be some five different Select Committee inquiries into the matter. We will bring together all the evidence that we have and publish it, so that people—the victims and others—can see exactly what happened. However, we know essentially what happened on 7 July, and I really believe that a full-scale public inquiry would divert a massive amount of police and security service time. I do not think that that would be sensible. I totally understand the concerns about this matter, but I hope that people will be satisfied with the large number of Select Committee inquiries, and with the fact that we will publish a full account of all the information that we have.

Secondary information

Type: Oral question
Reference: 440 c1303-4
Session: 2005-06
Oral question type: 1st Supplementary
Chamber / Committee: House of Commons chamber
Subjects: Disclosure of information Greater London Public inquiries Terrorism Select Committee reports
Link: View this Prime Minister's question on www.publications.parliament.uk