Alex Salmond expresses outrage over nine month Iraq Inquiry report wait

“The delay in publication is outrageous. It will mean a full seven years from the onset of the inquiry and 13 years after the outbreak of the illegal conflict,” declared the ex-SNP leader.

“Particularly at this time of year, we should be conscious of the feelings of the families of the 179 service men and women who lost their lives, who are feeling bitterly betrayed, not just by the length of the process but the complete failure to explain the reasons for the delay.

“Today in the Commons, I have demanded a Government statement to press for these answers,” added Mr Salmond, who is the SNP’s spokesman on foreign affairs.

Sir John Chilcot, who chairs the inquiry, said in a letter to David Cameron that his team expected to complete the text of its two million word report by the week commencing April 18.

The ex-Whitehall mandarin said that at that point it would be made available to officials for "national security checking" and preparation for publication.

He added: "I consider that once national security checking has been completed it should be possible to agree with you a date for publication in June or July 2016."

The families of those British service personnel, who died in the Iraq conflict, expressed deep disappointment.

Rose Gentle, from Glasgow, whose Royal Highland Fusilier son Gordon, 19, was killed in a bomb attack in Basra in 2004, said the continuing delay was difficult to cope with.

"We thought it should be out a lot sooner than this. 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.”

Ms Gentle, who set up the Military Families Against The War group, went on: “It’s hard. We want to try and move on and get on with our lives…The longer it goes on, the harder it is getting for us to put a step forward and move further on.”

Karla Ellis, whose brother, Private Lee Ellis, died when his Snatch Land Rover was blown up in February 2006, said: “For anyone to be held accountable I'm not holding my breath but if anyone is, that would be good. The amount of time it has taken has been horrendous. It's just an absolute nightmare.”

Reg Keys, the father of Lance Corporal Tom Keys was killed in Iraq in 2003, said he reacted "with a certain amount of anger because this delay has gone on just far too long now".

He explained: "We see no reason why it couldn't have been completed by Christmas and there is a defining line here between delivery of the inquiry and publication."

Mr Keys claimed all that would emerge would be a “watered-down version” of some of the criticisms put to civil servants and senior politicians.

He added: "It was all a deceit, a falsehood and a lot of young men and women died in that conflict."

Matthew Jury, the lawyer acting for the relatives, said: “We need to be sure this is the final stage of the process. Sir John, I believe, has given approximately eight weeks for the Cabinet Office to carry out that security checking. We need to have commitments and guarantees it will take no longer. There must be fixed deadlines and timetables. This cannot be allowed to slip any further.”

Asked if he was worried the July deadline could slip further, he replied: “We have to be worried, of course. Sir John has given dates before and estimates for publication before and he hasn’t stuck to those commitments. On that basis, the families are not going away, their legal challenge is still in place; we will be keeping a very watchful eye on how this progresses.”

He added: “It may well be we will be calling for an earlier publication date.”

The Prime Minister, who has previously expressed his extreme frustration at the delay, said he too was disappointed the final report would not become public until next summer and told Sir John in a letter of response: "I recognise that you have a significant task but would welcome any further steps you can take to expedite the final stages of the inquiry."

Tony Blair, who ordered the original invasion of Iraq in 2003, appeared before the inquiry twice along with a raft of senior politicians, generals, civil servants and intelligence chiefs.

Although the probe looked at the entire period of British operations in Iraq, much of the focus has been on the decision to overthrow Saddam Hussein.

Sir John, however, has always said he would not deliver a verdict on whether the conflict was lawful or not.

Critics have claimed Mr Blair is partly responsible for the delays in publication through the so-called Maxwellisation process, which gives witnesses a chance to respond to criticism before the findings are released; a claim the former PM has again strongly denied.

A spokesman for Mr Blair said: "Tony Blair has always wanted the inquiry to report as soon as it properly can and he looks forward to responding to the inquiry's report.

"Mr Blair also wants to make it clear that the timetable of the inquiry and the length of time it will have taken to report is not the result either of issues over the correspondence between him as Prime Minister and President Bush or due to the Maxwellisation process.

"As for the first, the correspondence has been with the inquiry from the beginning. The only question was over how much of the correspondence could be published in the final report, not about its content being used to inform the report. In any event that question was resolved between the Cabinet Office and the Inquiry in May 2014.

"Secondly, Tony Blair received the deliberations of the Inquiry under the Maxwell process in full only in January 2015, four years after the Inquiry finished taking evidence. He responded by August. This is not therefore the reason for the delay as Sir John Chilcot has made clear.”

He added: "It is our understanding that other witnesses also received information very late in the process, so any suggestion that witnesses have been the cause of the delay is categorically incorrect and this has again been stated clearly and publicly by Sir John."