British forces in Iraq are to be reduced by around 800 to just over 7,000 personnel from May.
British Defence Secretary John Reid told the House of Commons today that the move did not mark the handover to the Iraqis of security responsibility at an operational level.
'We will stay as long as we are needed, and wanted, and until the job is done,' he pledged.
Mr Reid said the cut in troops followed growth in the Iraqi security forces to around 235,000.
Trial of Saddam Hussein adjourned
The trial of the deposed Iraqi president Saddam Hussein has been adjourned in Baghdad.
Saddam Hussein and his seven co-defendants are on trial for their alleged role in the killing of almost 150 people in 1982, following an assassination attempt on the former leader.
During today's proceedings, one of the accused - the chief judge of the Revolutionary Court in the early 1980s, Awad Hamad al-Bandar - acknowledged sentencing 148 Shias to death, but said it was done legally.
The prosecution has said the trial was 'imaginary' and that those executed did not appear before the Revolutionary Court.
Nine killed in Iraqi violence
Nine people have been killed, including seven policemen, and 36 wounded in violence across Iraq.
The governor of Salahaddin province also survived a car bomb attack on his convoy in Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit.
Last night, three car bombs exploded in the Sadr City district, killing at least 46 people and injuring more than 90.
Earlier on Sunday, about 20 people were killed in a series of shootings, mortar attacks and roadside bombs.
The violence coincided with news that Iraq's parliament is to meet next Thursday for the first time since the December elections.
