Gordon Brown announced today a doubling of the British troops that will be withdrawn from Iraq before Christmas, during his first visit to the country as Prime Minister.

Mr Brown, speaking in Baghdad after meeting Nouri al-Maliki, the Iraqi Prime Minister, said that 1,000 troops will be withdrawn from Basra – 500 more than had previously been announced.

“I believe that by the end of the year the British forces that have been 5,500 can be reduced to 4,500 and that by the end of the year, we mean by Christmas, 1,000 of our troops can be brought back to the UK and to other purposes,” the Prime Minister said.

Mr Brown added: "I believe that within the next two months we can move to provincial Iraqi control and that is Iraqis taking control for their own security in the whole of Basra. I believe that the 30,000 security forces that have been trained up are capable of discharging these responsibilities for security and it allows us to make other decisions about British troops."

Mr al-Maliki believes that Iraqi forces are ready to take over responsibility for the province “as soon as possible", a statement from the Iraqi Prime Minister's office said.

Mr Brown arrived in Baghdad today just days before a crucial statement in the House of Commons in which he was expected to lay out his plans for British involvement in Iraq.

Tonight he faced criticism for failing to make the announcement to MPs. Former Prime Minister Sir John Major said: "This is a statement that should properly have been made to Parliament."

Nick Herbert, the shadow justice secretary, said the manner in which Mr Brown had made his statement showed a lack of respect for Parliament. He told the Tory conference: "Gordon Brown has repeatedly said that he would make a statement on troop withdrawal to Parliament when it returns. And today he has made an announcement on our troops in Iraq, an announcement of major significance, not to Parliament but to the press."

The Prime Minister will later hold talks with the United States commander in Iraq, General David Petraeus and the American Ambassador, Ryan Crocker, as well as Iraqi politicians.

“He is going to want to discuss the developing security situation in Basra, the prospects for the Iraqis taking over and the timescale for that,” one senior official said. “This is part of the process of preparing and finalising the statement to Parliament early next week.”

Barham Salih, the Kurdish Deputy Prime Minister, told The Times that the decision to transfer control of Basra province from British to Iraqi troops had been taken after a joint assessment by the security forces of both countries.

"The government welcomes the transfer of security responsibility in November," he said. "We look upon that as a statement that the Iraqi security forces are capable and able to discharge this important responsibility."

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