Lib Dems demand Iraq enquiry

2.40.06pm UTC (GMT +0000) Tue 8th Apr 2008

Sarah joined fellow Lib Dem parliamentarians at Westminster to launch the Bill by presenting a cheque as a reminder to Gordon Brown and David Cameron marking the £6.5 billion of UK taxpayers' money wasted on the Iraq war.

The Liberal Democrats have launched a Bill which calls for a full and independent inquiry into the Iraq War. The war has cost the lives of hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians and 4,300 coalition forces of which almost 200 were British, and cost British taxpayers £6.5 billion. Liberal Democrats are therefore calling for answers to questions which, 5 years since the invasion of Iraq, have still not been answered.

London's Lib Dem MEP Baroness Sarah Ludford said:

"We were taken to war in Iraq on false pretences and with the overwhelming support of Labour and Tory MPs but against the opposition of Liberal Democrats. We need to find out how this happened and to ensure that the country will never again be lied to. It is an outrage that after such huge costs to the Iraqis, to our dedicated armed forces and to the British taxpayer, there has been no substantial enquiry into the circumstances which led to the invasion. Over a million people marched in protest against the war in Iraq; all those people and our fellow citizens deserve an honest answer."