HYNDBURN MP Greg Pope today insisted Britain was right to keep its troops in Iraq for now.

Mr Pope was among a Parliamentary delegation which travelled to Iraq to see what life is like in the former dictatorship.

Last week, the 100th British soldier to die since the Iraq conflict began was reported, prompting new calls for troops to be pulled out.

Mr Pope said: "Like many MPs, I voted for the war in Iraq with a very heavy heart.

"I knew that people would die and I had to weigh that against the harm that leaving Saddam in office would cause."

During his stay, Mr Pope flew across Baghdad in a helicopter, and experienced the regular sound of explosion thuds' in the distance.

He said: "In Baghdad there is only electric power for six hours a day and I heard that in the city of Erbil some days there is only half an hour of electricity.

"As one Iraqi said to me, if the West can pay for cruise missiles why can't it fix the power stations?

"I didn't have a ready response, although the fact that terrorists can easily target vulnerable aspects of electricity supply such as the pylons provides part of the answer."