Oral question asked in the House of Commons, by Jeremy Corbyn (Labour). It was answered on Monday, 21 January 2008 on behalf of the Ministry of Defence.

Iraq

Question: Can the Secretary of State give us an indication of when he expects the last British troops finally to leave Iraq?

Answer: As I have said to my hon. Friend on a number of occasions, we keep these matters under review. We are clear about the progress that we have been able to make, particularly over the past 18 months, with regard to the reduction of our troops in Iraq. I have never been prepared to put a date on when we will remove the last of our troops from Iraq—and I am not prepared to do so now—but it will be a function of the conditions on the ground and the ability of the Iraqi security forces to provide security for their own people.

Secondary information