The presence of only 2,500 British troops in Iraq from next spring could make it impossible for them to carry out any useful function other than to protect themselves from attack, a committee of MPs said yesterday.

The Commons Defence Committee cast doubt on the Government’s plan to reduce the number of troops from 5,000 to 2,500 next year. The cutback was announced by Gordon Brown in the Commons last month.

The committee’s scepticism was supported yesterday by a senior army commander who told The Times: “There is no point in having just 2,500 troops in Iraq. The minimum you need both for force protection and for continuing with training the Iraqi security forces is around 5,000. So you either keep 5,000 there or you withdraw the lot, which is what we suggested to the Government.”

This assessment echoed what Bob Ainsworth, the Armed Forces Minister, told the Defence Committee in July, when he said: “The force is not self-sustaining and able to protect itself and do all the other work it has to do below about 5,000, so we are approaching levels where we cannot go much further.”

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However, Des Browne, the Defence Secretary, told the committee during its inquiry into British land operations in Iraq that there was no discrepancy between what Mr Ainsworth said in July and what the Prime Minister announced in October. He told the MPs: “What has changed is that we are now in a position to have a clear idea, in consultation with our allies and with the Iraqis themselves, as to exactly what we will be doing and what tasks we will be carrying out, and we plan the number of troops in relation to the tasks, so the tasks have changed.”

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