The committee also criticised top government ministers, intelligence leaders and prosecution officials for declining to testify at parliamentary hearings.

A government spokesman Tuesday rejected the demand for an independent inquiry, saying that the British government would 'neither solicit nor encourage torture'.

'We stand very firm that torture is not acceptable,' said Ivan Lewis, a foreign office minister.

Human rights groups Tuesday repeated their call for an inquiry into the allegations.

Clive Baldwin, a senior legal adviser for Human Rights Watch said the 'nature, level and rapidity' of the allegations showed that they were now 'something more than a one-off-case'.

Kate Allen, British director of Amnesty International, welcomed the inquiry call and said the government could no longer 'brush the issues under the carpet'.

'Almost every week brings fresh allegations that British agents either turned a blind eye to the torture of illegally-held detainees or arranged for the 'fruits' of torture sessions to be delivered to them,' said Allen.

'As the allegations mount it's no longer enough to simply trot out bland denials about how the government doesn't condone torture,' she said.

David Davis, a Conservative member of parliament said the report had left him in 'no doubt' that Britain had been complicit in the torture of terror suspects.