LONDON , England ( CNN ) -- Almost all British troops in Iraq are being pulled out because the agreement that allows them to be there expires on Friday , the British Ministry of Defence said Tuesday . Nearly all of Britain 's troops in Iraq will have left by the week 's end . The withdrawal marks the first time since the invasion of Iraq more than six years ago that there will be almost no British troops in the country . The only British troops there will be a group of about a dozen helping to train Iraqi police as part of a NATO mission , the ministry said . The United Kingdom 's remaining contingent of 100 to 150 troops is leaving Iraq for neighboring Kuwait , a Ministry of Defence spokesman told CNN . He declined to be named in line with policy . `` The small handful of British military personnel operating in Iraq will be withdrawn to Kuwait after Iraq 's parliament adjourned without passing a deal that would let them stay , '' the spokesman said . Iraq must give its permission for foreign troops to be on its soil . It was a group of Iraqi lawmakers loyal to anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr that prevented parliament from approving a new agreement on British troops . They walked out of parliament as a group on July 11 , depriving the legislature of the minimum number of lawmakers necessary for votes to take place . Parliament is now on summer recess until September 8 . Fawzi Akram , a lawmaker from the Sadr bloc , confirmed that the bloc reject the Iraqi-British security agreement . He said that Iraq does not need the British troops and that Iraqi security forces are ready to handle security on their own . Britain hopes the Iraqi parliament will eventually approve the security agreement . `` While this delay is unfortunate , we are continuing to seek a solution with the Iraqi Government that will provide our forces with the sound legal basis they need , '' the ministry said in a written statement . The British troops who are being pulled out include Royal Navy servicemen who have been helping the Iraqis to protect oil fields around the port town of Umm Qasr , according to the Ministry of Defence spokesman . All British combat troops have already left the country , another ministry spokesman told CNN . There were about 46,000 British troops in and around Iraq at the peak of major combat operations in March and April 2003 , according to the Ministry of Defence . CNN 's Jonathan Wald in London and Youssif Basil in Baghdad , Iraq , contributed to this report .
Almost all British troops in The United Kingdom 's are being pulled out . Agreement that allows them to be there expires on July 11 . about 46,000 Iraqi troops will remain to help train British police .