PROPOSALS to reduce the number of British troops serving in southern Iraq from 8,500 to 3,000 by early next year have been scrapped.

John Reid, the Defence Secretary, has given a personal assurance to the Chief of Staff of the Iraqi Armed Forces that British troop levels will stay the same unless the security climate improves dramatically.

A policy document signed by Mr Reid and leaked to a newspaper in July had outlined an option for withdrawing more than 5,000 British troops from Iraq — starting next month — for a saving of £500 million.

The timing of the proposed withdrawal appeared to be linked to the expected deployment next year of between 2,000 and 3,000 extra British troops to join the Nato force in Afghanistan. A British general is to take charge of the Nato headquarters in Afghanistan from May next year.

Yesterday, however, before leaving for Berlin for a Nato defence ministers’ meeting, Mr Reid indicated that imminent troop cuts in Iraq were no longer an option. He also denied that an increase in troops to Afghanistan would make it necessary to cut the force in Iraq.

Some defence officials had suggested that withdrawals from Iraq would be unavoidable if British troops were to take on a bigger role in Afghanistan.

However, Mr Reid said that the Armed Forces would continue to carry out both missions for as long as was necessary. He said that the scale of the British commitment in Iraq would depend on conditions in the country.

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