AN announcement that UK troops are to be withdrawn from Iraq by July has been welcomed by Colchester’s MP.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown said yesterday he had agreed with Iraqi prime minister Nouri Malaki that Britain’s mission in the gulf state would end by May 31, and soldiers would come home within the following two months.

Lib Dem Bob Russell said he was glad of the withdrawal as he believed it had been a mistake to invade five years ago – a move he voted against.

The return of more than 4,000 troops from Iraq would give defence chiefs more deployment options and could provide a welcome respite for Colchester-based 16 Air Assault Brigade, which is tipped to be sent back to Afghanistan in 2010.

However, the Ministry of Defence is unlikely to make its plans known until a few months before any future tour is due to start.

Mr Russell told the Gazette: “I pay tribute to our armed forces in Iraq who have been carrying out the wishes of the Government of the day.

“However, we mustn’t get Iraq and Afghanistan confused. Iraq was a country we shouldn’t have invaded while Afghanistan, without the efforts of our servicemen and women, would revert back to being a refuge for terrorists and an exporter of terrorism around the world.”

PROUD Colchester troops were honoured by the Prince of Wales at the inaugural national awards for the armed forces.

Mersea Road-based 2 Para, which suffered heavy losses in Afghanistan this summer, was a joint winner of the judges’ special award at the Millies, held at Hampton Court Palace in London.

One of the battalion’s bravest, L/Cpl Jan Fourie, scooped a life-saver’s gong for rescuing bombing victim L/Cpl Tom Neathway.

L/Cpl Fourie said: “It was a really good day for 2 Para, especially when we got the recognition of Prince Charles and Camilla, and when we were up on the stage and Tom shouted ‘2 Para, 2 Para’.

“2 Para is probably the best thing I will ever do in my life. It is a great honour to be a paratrooper.

“It was a team effort. What we did in Afghanistan was what any bloke in 1, 2 or 3 Para would have done.

“These awards are for the entire Parachute Regiment.

” Prince Charles praised the “incredible role” played by troops as he addressed an audience studded with stars, including England and Chelsea footballer John Terry and singer Rachel Stevens.

He said the newly-established awards would allow the country to give servicemen and women the respect they deserved.

“Now we are able to pay our respects in the most public manner to all those who so often take incredible risks on our behalf in a way that seems remarkable, courageous and praiseworthy in an increasingly risk-averse world,” the Prince said.

“These awards will never, of course, undermine or substitute the existing system of gallantry awards.

“But, above all, they enable us to recognise those age-old qualities of duty, service and loyalty.

” England rugby team manager Martin Johnson, a member of the judging panel, said: “I don’t think what we do in our lives comes anywhere near what these guys have to go through.”

The judges’ special award was shared by 2 Para and Christine Bonner, from Wisbech, Cambs, who set up a support group and raised thousands of pounds for charity after her son, Cpl Darren Bonner, of the 1st Royal Anglian Battlegroup, was hit by a Taliban mine.

The most outstanding soldier was named as Warrant Officer Class 2 Ian Farrell, 37, of Scunthorpe, Lincs, who serving with the 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards in Afghanistan last year.