Delays over Iraq war report 'intolerable', says Welsh peer

Delays over the publication of a report into the Iraq war have been branded "intolerable", by Tony Blair's former attorney general.

Lord Morris of Aberavon said families of those killed "are being forgotten completely".

He urged Prime Minister David Cameron to give Parliament a vote to force a timetable for the publication of the Chilcot Report on the 2003 war.

Mr Cameron called delays over Sir John Chilcot's inquiry "frustrating".

Lord Morris was Mr Blair's chief legal adviser from 1997 to 1999.

'Intolerable'

Speaking to BBC Wales, he said of the inquiry: "Year after year (it has gone on for). We are talking about six years, a period much longer than the Iraq war.

"There are 179 families who lost loved ones - they are being forgotten completely."

Lord Morris said the length of the inquiry, which he said had given people an "interminable" amount of time to respond to criticism against them, was "intolerable".

"If the evidence has been gathered and the responses are there then Parliament should decide where we go from here," he said.

He said nobody was listening to his calls for progress, adding it was "high time" something was done.

Lord Morris said Mr Cameron should order cabinet secretary Sir Jeremy Heywood to report to Parliament on the progress of the inquiry.

He said MPs and peers should then be given a vote on a timetable for publication.

'Frustrating'

The inquiry was set up in 2009 and was meant to report in 2011.

It was commissioned by the Gordon Brown-led Labour government to look at the background to UK involvement in the Iraq war, which began when Tony Blair was prime minister in 2003.

Sir John has said he is making "significant progress", but is still awaiting responses. Chancellor George Osborne has previously said the government would not intervene in the independent publication.

The prime minister said: 'What I've said before it's frustrating, we want this inquiry finished.

"It's for the good of the families, for the good of the country - people want to know the truth, they want this inquiry out and so do I."

An Iraq Inquiry spokesman said: "Sir John and his colleagues understand the anguish of the families of those who lost their lives in the conflict. They take the responsibility they were given as an independent inquiry extremely seriously and understand the need for government, Parliament and the public to see their report as soon as possible."

A timetable for completion would be provided once witnesses facing possible criticism in the report had responded, the spokesman added.