Government minister Stephen Twigg was accused of being responsible for the deaths of 500,000 Iraqi children during a visit to Colchester.

Seven representatives of the Colchester Peace Campaign turned out to lobby Mr Twigg, the youth and student minister, on the actions in Iraq.

He had been invited to the town by Rossanna Trudgian, youth and student officer for the local Labour party, for a question-and-answer session with the town's young people last night

Andy Abbott, peace campaign spokesman, said: "We are talking about 12 long years of sanctions and well over one million dead, killed by Britain and America. Half of these are children. As a Government minister, Steven Twigg is directly responsible for that."

Protesters held a minute's silence for the lives of children and invited Mr Twigg to join them but he went straight into the meeting.

Mr Twigg said: "I think what is important is we have a rational discussion about the Iraq situation. Clearly the loss of any life is a tragedy.

"During the war, we have seen the loss of thousands of lives. We have also seen the end of the most tyrannical and despotic regime the world has ever seen, which has been responsible for the death of more than a million people."

During the meeting, Mr Twigg discussed young people's concerns, including University fees, the number of tests and exams students face and political apathy

Published Wednesday, April 23, 2003

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