Read the Times interview with Nouri al-Maliki

There is a critical need for Iraq and Britain to reach an agreement in the next few weeks to allow remaining British troops to stay in Iraq beyond the end of 2008, a British Foreign Office minister said today, during a visit to Baghdad.

The United States and Iraq have been negotiating their own bilateral accord for months but have so far failed to seal the deal because of disagreements on whether American soldiers should be immune from Iraqi law when off-duty.

London wants to use that accord as a blueprint for its agreement to cover the status of 4,100 troops — deployed largely in southern Iraq — but with no sign of an end to the US-Iraq deadlock, time is fast running out for everyone.

Failure to forge a deal by December 31 would force Iraq to go to the United Nations Security Council to request the extension of a mandate that authorises the presence of foreign forces in the country, and which is due to expire at the end of the year

Bill Rammell, the Foreign Office minister in Baghdad to discuss the matter, told the Today programme on Radio 4: “What is critical is that in the next few days and weeks we resolve the issue.

“Were we to reach the end of the year and had to roll over the UN mandate, I think that would send out an unfortunate message that would undermine the genuine progress that is being made in taking Iraq forward and the Iraqis increasingly taking on their own responsibility in terms of governance.”

The US was holding detailed discussions with Iraq, he said. “As that concludes, as I hope it will very shortly, we will then secure our own arrangements.”

Nouri al-Maliki, the Iraqi Prime Minister, told The Times at the weekend that Iraq no longer needed British troops to provide security in the south.

Of Britain’s presence, he said: “We thank them for the role they have played, but I think that their stay is not necessary for maintaining security and control. There might be a need for their experience in training and some technological issues, but as a fighting force, I don’t think that is necessary.”

Mr al-Maliki, however, emphasised the need for state of forces (Sofa) discussions with Britain. “To avoid reaching the critical deadline, I wish for the negotiations between the two sides to start quickly to determine what elements of the force should remain and their specialties,” he said. With no such agreement and no new UN mandate, British forces would “lose their legal cover and have to leave Iraq”.

British troops help to train the Iraqi Army and Navy in the south, while a Special Forces unit in Baghdad is used to strike at al-Qaeda and militia targets.

Gordon Brown said in July that next year would see a “fundamental change of mission” for the British military in Iraq.

Times Recommends

• Please help: maimed children of war want their lives back
• Cabal seizes diamond riches to buy power
• White House gatecrashers got to the president