West Midlands Lib Dem MPs attend vigil to mark deaths of British Servicemen

11.49.51am GMT Wed 1st Feb 2006

Lorely Burt MP and John Hemming MP at the vigil opposite Parliament

Lorely Burt, Member of Parliament for Solihull and John Hemming, Member of Parliament for Birmingham Yardley attended the vigil in memory of the deaths of 100 British Servicemen and Women at 5pm on Tuesday 31st March 2006.

The Liberal Democrat MPs shared in the reading out of the names of the service people who had died.

"Our hearts go out to the families of the service people who have been killed in Iraq" said local MP Lorely Burt. "We only hope that there will be no more tragedies as happened today."

"The government have a key responsibility for the lives of our service people. They need to recognise that there is no good reason for keeping our boys and girls as military targets in Iraq" explained John Hemming MP. "Work should commence for their return to the UK."

"This war was a mistake. The continued occupation is also a mistake."

"We do recognise that in theory we could have been arrested for reading the names of the service people," added Mr Hemming. "However, it is important that MPs stand up for free speech and the right for people to have their voice heard."