FOREIGN Secretary Jack Straw and Pendle MP Gordon Prentice have clashed over whether there is actual evidence that Iraq is developing nuclear capability.

Blackburn MP Mr Straw was updating the House of Commons on the situation regarding possible military action against Saddam Hussein.

Mr Prentice, who opposes war in the Gulf, said Mr Straw had referred to a document published by the government in September "which suggested that Iraq had a fully functioning nuclear programme."

He said it had been contradicted by the UN weapons inspectors on January 27, who said they "found no evidence at all that Iraq had reactivated its nuclear programme."

In a reference to the recently published Downing Street dossier on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. Mr Prentice said: "It is because of the quality of evidence... that we seem to be unable to carry public opinion with us.

"Would it not be an absolute outrage if we went to war without a majority of members of the Labour Party, the Parliamentary Labour Party and the British public endorsing that action?"

Mr Straw replied to Mr Prentice: "The evidence in respect of Iraq's possession of weapons of mass destruction, chemical and biological weapons and weapons programme, and its readiness to develop nuclear weapons programme is overwhelming."