Britain's 8,000 troops in Iraq could begin to withdraw next year, John Reid, the Defence Secretary, confirmed today.

Mr Reid was reacting to comments by Jalal Talabani, the President of Iraq, who said at the weekend that Iraqi troops would be able to take over security in southern Iraq, where the British are based, by the end of next year.

"It is a process that could start within the next 12 months," Mr Reid told BBC Radio 4's Today programme. "We are not saying there would be immediate withdrawal. We are not saying that there is a immutable timetable, irrespective of conditions on the ground."

"We are not saying that everyone will be out by the end of 2006 but we are saying that this process - despite the terrorist attempts to destroy it - is going relatively well, and, in the course of the next year, we could well see the handover to Iraqi forces at certain places in Iraq, including in our own area."

Mr Reid's statement, and conditions, were then reiterated by Tony Blair who said that British troops would not leave a "security vacuum" when the time came to leave.

"I think it’s entirely reasonable to talk about the possibility of withdrawal of troops next year, but it’s got to be always conditioned by the fact that we withdraw when the job is done," said Mr Blair, who was speaking in Downing Street alongside Abel Abdul Mahdi, the Vice-President of Iraq.

"The job is done when the Iraqi security services are capable of dealing with the security problems," said the Prime Minister, who described "a very substantial build-up in Iraqi capability" over the last year.

Mr Talabani's comments yesterday were the first attempt by a senior Iraqi politician to put a date on Britain's pull-out from Iraq.

The Iraqi President’s remarks on the ITV’s Jonathan Dimbleby programme are in line with an assessment of the progress the Iraqi Army is making in shouldering an increasing amount of the security responsibilities in the south. In central Iraq, where most of the insurgency is being fought, few of the Iraqi units are capable yet of operating without the back-up of the Americans.

British troops are training Iraq’s 10th Division, based in Basra. Under existing plans, the aim is to hand over more and more of the security tasks to the Iraqis in the four provinces in the south, allowing Britain’s force, part of the Multinational Division Southeast, to withdraw to barracks and then pull out in a phased programme.

Defence sources said yesterday that the prediction did not mean there would a "big bang" withdrawal of all British troops at the end of next year. The process would take time and the Iraqi 10th Division, which is commanded by General Abdul Latif, would need to be better equipped.

At present, it is largely a "lorry-born" force, with no helicopters, a few T72 tanks supplied by Hungary and some armoured personnel carriers.

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