In a statement, Sir Ian said the force had made "major progress" in the areas identified by the Independent Police Complaints Commission's report, which was made public for the first time on Thursday.

Here is Sir Ian Blair's statement in full:

I am going to try to keep this statement short, because I spoke at length both yesterday at the Greater London Assembly and at the conclusion of the Health and Safety trial.

However, the publication of this report does require a considered response from this service today. Given the gravity of the events, that response has to be from me.

The MPS has never sought to avoid accountability for the death of Jean Charles de Menezes. We killed an innocent man.

STOCKWELL ONE REPORT IPCC Investigation into Menezes shooting [1.35MB] Most computers will open this document automatically, but you may need Adobe Reader Download the reader here IPCC report recommendations Send us your comments

Hardly a day goes by when I have not thought about how things could have been done differently and thus Mr de Menezes would still have been alive.

I know that many of the officers involved reconsider the events of the day, again and again. Some mistakes or miscommunications by different individuals led to a disastrous result.

Whilst the report published today puts some previously unaired information into the public arena, most of the facts are well known.

The MPS received copies of the report some 20 months ago. Together with the findings of an internal review which I instigated in the immediate aftermath of the events of July 2005, this has enabled us to make improvements in a number of key areas.

Cressida Dick headed police when Me de Menezes was shot

I am satisfied that the MPS has made major progress in the areas recommended for review by the IPCC, particularly around armed operations, communications, surveillance and Operation Kratos, the policy for dealing with deadly and determined attackers.

The recommendations are about national best practice but I must be concerned principally with London.

This summer, I therefore invited Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary to assess our progress against the 16 recommendations made by the IPCC covering the range of issues I have just mentioned.

I am grateful for HMIC's detailed scrutiny.

I believe that Londoners can be reassured by the finding of the Inspectors that the MPS has, and I quote, 'examined every aspect of operations pertinent to the recommendations', that the Met's 'learning has been profound and has been developed and implemented in various ways' and that our progress in implementing changes is 'significant, sustainable and often innovative'.

A copy of HMIC's review detailing all the work that has been carried out is available on our website. So where does this leave us now?

Good record

The three Stockwell reports from the IPCC, 1, 1B and 2, are now available for public scrutiny, as is the Met's response. The detail of this report is similar to the matters revealed in the Health and Safety trial.

I should reiterate that our decision to plead not guilty in that prosecution was neither about avoiding accountability for Jean Charles de Menezes' death nor denying that systems and procedures should be changed to avoid a similar tragedy occurring again.

Nor do we say that Health and Safety legislation should not apply to the police: we question only - and are not certain - as to whether Health and Safety legislation should apply to police operations, in fast time, when lives are at risk.

In summary, I am clear that, two-and-a-half years after the death of Jean Charles de Menezes, the Met has significantly improved many of its procedures to deal with life threatening incidents. Our overall record is good.

I have noted before that Metropolitan Police officers were called to 10,000 potential firearms incidents in the last 12 months and only fired their weapons on three occasions.

The shooting happened at Stockwell Tube station

However, we can always improve and our detailed response to the IPCC recommendations will make our service to the people of London even better.

I want to deal now with some other matters.

The judge in the Health and Safety trial made clear that individual officers were not to blame personally for the events of the day. Indeed, he commended some officers for their bravery during the policing operation.

Likewise, the jury were so clear in their view that Deputy Assistant Commissioner Cressida Dick was not personally culpable that they took the unusual step of adding a rider to their verdict to that effect.

Unambiguous conclusion

Whilst the IPCC identified 15 officers as having potentially committed criminal or misconduct offences, the CPS decided not to institute any criminal proceedings against any individual police officers.

It is therefore important not to lose sight of the IPCC's unambiguous conclusion that 'all those involved at both command and operational level were intent upon protecting the general public from a perceived threat of illegal lethal force.'

I want to be completely clear on this point - all the officers involved in this policing operation have my full support.

Despite the criticisms detailed in this and other reports about Stockwell, it is important to remember that no officer set out that day to shoot an innocent man - the death was the result of a culmination of actions that must be viewed against the unprecedented threat in this capital city.

Suicide bombers

Fifty-two innocent people had just been killed and hundreds had been injured. Now, four failed suicide bombers were on the run and there was a very real fear they would strike again and more innocent lives would be lost.

Tragically, Jean Charles de Menezes died at the hands of the Metropolitan Police.

We do not shy from that but we do ask that people understand the nature of the policing operation and the actions of the men and women who did their best to protect the public in such testing circumstances.

We have apologised to the family and friends of Jean Charles de Menezes many times in the past and I take this opportunity again to express our deep regret for his death.

Next, I note that the IPCC has also drawn conclusions about the impact of my decision over the role of the IPCC in the investigation of the policing operation that culminated in Mr de Menezes' death.

Best of motives

When I responded in August to the publication of the report known as Stockwell 2, I made clear that I would not make the same decision again in similar circumstances.

That is still my position. I reiterate, however, that the decision was made with the best of motives that the rigorous investigation of this shooting needed to be fully coordinated with the needs of the counter terrorism investigation to track down the suicide bombers.

As was demonstrated at Forest Gate, however, it is clear now that it remains possible for an anti-terrorist operation to continue successfully alongside an IPCC investigation.

Finally, I turn now, as I must, to the vote yesterday in the Greater London Assembly.

Insofar as I have had sight of this report for over 18 months and have been well aware of its contents, its publication today makes no difference to the position I made clear yesterday.

Jean Charles de Menezes had come to live in the UK from Brazil

I intend to remain in this post. My reasoning is very simple. By the very nature of its task, the history of the Metropolitan Police Service is littered with controversial events.

I don't need to repeat a litany of them now but every Commissioner has such events on his watch.

Commissioners have to be in post for enough time to drive long-term change. They have not previously widely been expected to resign over individual incidents, however grave.

There are great advantages in the creation of the Independent Police Complaints Commission, the Greater London Assembly and in some aspects of Health and Safety legislation.

However, they have changed the context of this post. Nevertheless, they do not change the basic nature of the Commissioner's task. Once again, I repeat my deep and very personal regret for the death of Jean Charles de Menezes.