Troop decisions 'in UK interests'

Foreign Secretary David Miliband insisted the Government would not take its lead from America as Gordon Brown sought to head off renewed calls for an early exit.

Mr Miliband said the UK's national interest would come first in setting military strategy in Basra, where British forces faced different circumstances to US troops in Baghdad.

Their comments follow an intensification of the insurgency and attacks on British forces in southern Iraq over recent months.

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Menzies Campbell criticised the Government's reluctance to pull troops out, warning that the number of fatalities had become unacceptable.

But the Prime Minister Gordon Brown insisted troops still had "an important job to do" in Iraq. In a letter to Sir Menzies, Mr Brown said the military had "clear obligations to discharge", and it was wrong to say the continued presence of more than 5,000 personnel would "achieve little".

Mr Miliband accepted British troops were facing a "very difficult, very tough" situation but rejected suggestions they are already withdrawing.

"Obviously there are fewer British troops than there were before and their role is changing," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme. Asked about Britain's independence, he said: "We will always take British decisions in the British national interest. Critically, the Baghdad situation is different."

Commentators have increasingly voiced concerns about the UK's ability to sustain intense military campaigns in both Iraq and Afghanistan. There have been repeated claims that UK forces are exacerbating the situation in southern Iraq, where sectarian factions are regarded as on the verge of civil war.

But Mr Brown's letter will be seen as an attempt to reassure those who fear that Britain is wavering in its commitment to military operations - particularly among the US administration.