Tony Blair has made a statement to MPs, covering both last week's European Council meeting and the latest situation in Iraq.

He expressed the deepest sympathy of the Government to the families of servicemen and women who have died.

'We owe them a great debt,' he said.

The Prime Minister restated Britain's war aims and reaffirmed that the campaign was targeted against the Iraqi regime.

'We want to minimise the suffering of ordinary Iraqi people,' said Mr Blair, 'and make this a war not of conquest but of liberation.'

The allies were facing pockets of resistance both in the Al Faw peninsula and in Basra, said the Prime Minister.

But Allied forces were now about 60 miles south of Baghdad.

Deep divisions

The Prime Minister said that there were 'deep divisions' over Iraq at the European Council.

But he said that the Council agreed the need to act in the reconstruction of Iraq, and to ensure that the post-conflict regime was representative and committed to human rights.

The Leader of the Opposition, Iain Duncan Smith, joined the Prime Minister in paying tribute to British troops.

Mr Duncan Smith praised the rapidity of allied progress towards Baghdad and the success in holding oil wells.

He highlighted concerns about water and electricity supplies in Basra, about the treatment of allied prisoners of war by the Iraqi regime and about the role of Turkish troops in northern Iraq.

Mr Blair agreed that any Turkish incursion into northern Iraq would be 'entirely unacceptable'.

Mr Duncan Smith said European divisions meant the prospect of a common foreign and security policy would have to be re-evaluated.

But the Prime Minister said this was one point on which he was in disagreement with the Opposition.

For the Liberal Democrats, Charles Kennedy said urgent attention must be given to the task of reconstruction.

He said the United Nations should take over responsibility for rebuilding Iraq after the conflict.

Coverage of the House of Commons is carried live, in full, on BBC Parliament.