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Tory MP calls for legal support curb in Iraq war inquiry

Taxpayer-funded legal support available to individuals criticised by the Iraq war inquiry should be limited to help speed up the publication of the final report, a Conservative MP has said.

David Davis, a leading critic of the delay in publishing the conclusions of Sir John Chilcot's probe six years after it was commissioned, said the cost to the public was ridiculous.

Sir John Chilcot has defended the delay saying that the report of the nine-year conflict must be 'fair' Credit: PA Wire

Mr Davis told the Daily Telegraph: "There are two groups of people who are suffering most from these inordinate delays of Chilcot: one group are the families of the dead who are being denied closure and the other group are the ordinary taxpayers who are being denied an answer as to the causes of the war.

It seems ridiculous that the second group - the taxpayers - are also having to pay the cost of this answer being delayed ad infinitum.

Surely the reasonable action for the Government to take now is to say 'there should be a limit in time and money on what can be spent on government lawyers to allow this inordinate delay to continue'.

– Conservative MP David Davis

Downing Street said: "This is an independent inquiry and as such Maxwellisation, publication and timing are a matter for Sir John."