A SUMMER publication of the long-awaited and long-delayed report by the Iraq inquiry would be “incomprehensible and unacceptable,” MPs told the UK Government during a Commons debate.
But John Penrose, the Cabinet Office minister, made clear Whitehall was in the hands of inquiry chairman Sir John Chilcot whose timetable for publication remained sometime in June or July; expected to be after the EU referendum on June 23 and before Westminster rises for its summer recess on July 21.
The alarm expressed by MPs was because next week the report, which has taken seven years and cost £10 million to produce, is due to be vetted by the security services. But this process is only due to take two weeks or less.
MP after MP stood up to call for the report to be published as soon as the vetting was over ie in early May.
READ MORE: SNP say delay in Chilcot report has potential to become “international embarrassment”
Angus Brendan MacNeil, the SNP MP for the Western Isles, said time had been a huge issue since the genesis of the report and that David Cameron had promised to have the report security-cleared within a fortnight ie the week beginning May 2.
“The promise that I seek from the minister is that the Government will keep their word and that a fortnight after Sir John Chilcot has delivered his report, we shall see it published.”
The Nationalists’ deputy foreign affairs spokesman quoted Rose Gentle from Glasgow, whose son Gordon, a Royal Highland Fusilier, was killed in Basra aged just 19.
“’I thought it would be out by the end of the year because they have everything there. It’s another let-down. It’s another few months to wait and suffer again.’”
Mr MacNeil added: “That was said on October 29 2015, nine years after the initial debate on Iraq in this place. Bereaved parents such as Rose Gentle should not wait a day beyond the first week of May 2016 for the publication of the Chilcot report.”
READ MORE: SNP say delay in Chilcot report has potential to become “international embarrassment”
Senior Conservative backbencher David Davis told Mr Penrose: "I want to say through the minister to Sir John Chilcot that June/July is incomprehensible and unacceptable.”
He noted how in the public gallery was Peter Brierley whose son Shaun died 13 years ago in the service of his country.
"He represents, in my mind, the 179 families who have lost sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, husbands, loved ones, wives, and in some cases mothers and fathers.
"And we owe them a debt. We call ourselves honourable, right honourable, sometimes gallant; this is a matter of honour, let's give that closure to those families," added Mr Davis.
The SNP’s Douglas Chapman, who represents Dunfermline and West Fife, stressed how heaping unacceptable delay on unacceptable delay was not the way forward.
“Informing us that the final report may be heavily redacted only adds insult to injury, particularly for the families who lost loved ones in Iraq. It is a dreadful situation to endure,” he declared.
Chris Stephens, who as MP for Glasgow South West represents Mrs Gentle, told members that she and her family had one simple request, that it was “time for justice for the military families who lost their loved ones serving in Iraq; the Chilcot report must be published in the first week of May 2016”.
But Mr Penrose explained even when the vetting process was over the report would still be in Sir John’s hands and would “not be released to the Government until everything is ready”.
He said while the timetable for publication was still June/July the inquiry team expected to “announce a firmer publication date soon after the national security checking process is complete”.
The minister added: "I'm sure(Sir John) will have listened to the tone and tenor of the debate here and he will understand the thirst to see the results of his work, the frustration that it's taken so long. But we are in his hands."
READ MORE: SNP say delay in Chilcot report has potential to become “international embarrassment”
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