Oral question asked in the House of Lords, by Lord Hurd of Westwell (Conservative). It was answered on Thursday, 23 November 2006.

Iraq and Afghanistan: UK Forces

Question: My Lords, will the Minister answer the question that I put to his colleague on Monday but which the Foreign Office Minister did not have time in his wind-up to answer? Does the final decision on keeping British troops in Iraq rest with the Iraqi Government or with Her Majesty's Government?

Answer: My Lords, let me be absolutely clear about this—I believe that I have answered this question before. The final decision rests with Her Majesty's Government. They are our troops; it is our decision. We have stated our policy clearly, which is to support the Iraqi Government in the progress that they are trying to make. Our troops are fundamental to that. We have said that we will not cut and run, or let the Iraqi people down. That is our policy and we are seeing progress. But the final decision is down to Her Majesty's Government based on the conditions on the ground that I have described previously.

Secondary information