Legal advice given to the government by the Attorney General on declaring war should not be protected by legal professional privilege, Lord Falconer has said on the fifth anniversary of the US-led invasion of Iraq.


Speaking at the Royal United Services Institute conference on Britain's war powers, held in London on Monday, the former Lord Chancellor said: 'It is inconceivable that the basis of that advice can be kept from the public... the advice of the law officers in relation to going to war is never tested in court.



'It is much more than an opinion, it is the judgement upon which the government operates... they [the law officers] have got to give an honest and as full as possible case for the public to know how strong or weak the case for war is.'



Sir Menzies Campbell MP, former Lib-Dem leader and barrister, agreed legal advice 'should not be confidential on an issue of that kind'. He also called for the royal prerogative power allowing prime ministers to declare war to be passed to Parliament - although he noted that the Commons had voted ahead of the Iraq war.



Falconer denied there was a case for transferring war powers to Parliament - insisting the UK's current constitutional arrangements were sufficient and that Campbell's recommendation would be 'introducing new layers of legalism where none were required'.



However, Falconer and fellow speaker Professor Steven Haines, professor of strategy and the law of military operations at Royal Holloway, University of London, said parliamentary committees could better scrutinise the government's use of force.



A spokesman for the Attorney General's Office said the role of the Attorney General - including the issue of legal professional privilege - was currently part of the Governance of Britain consultation and that any proposed changes would be announced shortly.



Anita Rice