A British parliament delegation which toured Sri Lanka ahead of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in November on Sunday hailed the progress in the country following the end of the war.

Head of the delegation, British MP Eleanor Laing, expressed hope for Sri Lanka's future, saying that one cannot compare human rights in Britain to human rights in Sri Lanka as the island suffered 30 years of war.

"There is a lot of hope for the future. We are very positive about Sri Lanka. I believe reconciliation is important. We should not rake back the past," she said.

She also said that elections scheduled to be held in the war- battered north in September will be very important and she hopes foreign monitors will be invited to observe the elections.

Meanwhile, British opposition MP Simon Danczuk, who has been pushing for justice over the murder of a British tourist in the southern town of Tangalle in 2011, sounded optimism that investigations and legal proceedings will progress.

He said that Sri Lankan Minister Basil Rajapaksa had apologized over the incident in which British national Khuram Shaikh was killed and his girlfriend was raped.

The British MP said that Justice Minister Rauf Hakeem had said that the Attorney General's Department was looking at the case.

"I am cautiously optimistic about the case progressing. I will continue to raise the issue in the British parliament," he said.

He also said that he had no issues with British Prime Minister David Cameron's attending the CHOGM summit in Sri Lanka as long as he raises the Khuram Shaikh incident as well if there is no progress by then.