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Parliament needs power to scrutinise special forces, committee warns

MORE scrutiny over British special forces and drones should be given to MPs, a parliamentary committee is warning today.

The call comes days after the Morning Star revealed how SAS Sergeant Matt Tonroe, the only British soldier to die fighting Isis in Syria, was killed by friendly fire.

MPs currently have no oversight of special forces raids and the government refused to answer a question in Parliament about Sgt Tonroe’s death.

Now the Commons public administration and constitutional affairs committee has published a report calling for MPs to have more powers.

It says “the principle of how special forces and drones are utilised should be considered by the House” in order to “hold the government to account.”

A “fundamental shift” in relations between government and MPs is called for with “regular information sharing, rather than ad hoc, selective disclosure.”

Committee chairman Sir Bernard Jenkin MP said: “Governments must ensure that MPs are able to make an informed decision when scrutinising and ultimately deciding whether to approve or reject the use of military force. This means access to documents and sensitive information, and a beefed-up role for parliamentary committees.”

Afghan war veteran Joe Glenton told the Star: “The era of mass deployments as in Afghanistan and Iraq is over for now.

“The UK’s anti-war population, termed ‘risk averse’ by Orwellian hawks, will not have it.

“This has led to a large part of UK military operations being conducted under the ‘no comment’ convention associated with the Special Forces.

“This mechanism is used to avoid vital scrutiny and is out of sync with many of our major allies.

“The public must know what is being done in their name and with their taxes.”

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