Commenting on today's statement by Defence Secretary Des Browne, in which he revealed that the planned draw-down of British forces in Iraq is to be halted, Liberal Democrat Shadow Defence Secretary, Nick Harvey said:

"No convincing case has been made for our continued presence in Basra.

"Today's statement begs the question of whether the draw-down of troops from Iraq was ever really going to happen. Last year, the Prime Minister rushed out to Iraq in the run-up to the election that never was and announced troop withdrawals. Was that just an election gimmick?

"If something fundamental has changed since then, what is it?  The majority of our troops are confined to Basra airbase, and even during the last week's troubles they haven't intervened directly.

"We need to know exactly what commitments have been given to the Iraqi armed forces and to the US administration, and how long the MoD will continue to leave our forces overstretched by fighting in both Iraq and Afghanistan."