iraq

Responding to reports that Gordon Brown has refused to review the 1994 Chinook Helicopter Crash, SNP Defence Spokesperson Angus Robertson has said the families ‘deserve to know the full facts'.

SNP Defence Spokesperson and Westminster Leader Angus Robertson MP has seized on comments made by the former Director of Public Prosecutions, Sir Ken Macdonald QC who claimed today (Monday) that former Prime Minister Tony Blair had used “alarming subterfuge” as justification for invading Iraq.

Highlighting a week of evidence to the Chilcot Inquiry where the UK Government’s justification for the war in Iraq has been destroyed, SNP Defence and Westminster Spokesman, Angus Robertson MP, has said ‘no-one can believe a word Labour say’.

As the Chilcot inquiry into the war in Iraq got underway, Angus Robertson MP, SNP Westminster leader and Defence spokesman, reiterated his calls for a thorough and transparent exercise which would finally reveal the truth about the decisions which led the UK into the war in Iraq.

Commenting as the Chilcot inquiry into the Iraq war takes evidence in Edinburgh and as the relatives of those UK citizens and service personnel killed in Iraq ask to be present when Tony Blair appears before the inquiry into the conflict, SNP Westminster leader Angus Robertson MP voiced his support for the family members and said the current prime ministers should also give evidence in public.

Commenting on an army report leaked to the Sunday Mirror which blames not only Tony Blair but Gordon Brown for the botched occupation of Iraq the SNP Westminster leader, Angus Robertson MP, said it indicated unease at senior army levels about the inquiry being held in secret.

Anne McLaughlin, MSP for Glasgow, today called for a debate in the Scottish Parliament to discuss the UK Government’s proposal for an inquiry into the invasion of Iraq. UK Government proposals, laid out by the Prime Minister earlier this week, look to hold an inquiry into the Iraq war behind closed doors.

SNP Westminster Leader and Defence Spokesperson, Angus Robertson MP, has branded the UK Government’s inquiry into the war in Iraq in closed session as “totally inadequate” and warned that it will not provide the answers so badly needed.

SNP Westminster Leader and Defence spokesperson, Angus Robertson MP, has welcomed confirmation from Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill that plans to allow fatal accident inquiries into the deaths of military personnel killed abroad to be held in Scotland are set to receive Royal assent later this year.

News that families of Scottish service personnel killed abroad will no longer have to travel to England to attend their loved one's inquests under proposed amendments to the coroners system, has been welcomed by the SNP.