Category Archives: Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office

UK accused of caving-in to British Virgin Islands over access to companies register

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Parliamentary group urges government to clamp down on overseas territories before flagship anti-corruption summit

The UK government has been accused of caving-in to pressure from the British Virgin Islands by allowing it to limit access to a register of company share ownership to only those deemed to have a legitimate interest.

The restriction, to be discussed at talks starting on Tuesday between Foreign Office ministers and leaders of the British overseas territories (BOTs) in London, is in defiance of legislation passed by the UK government as long ago as 2008 that would make the register available to all.

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French taxi driver cleared of stealing from David Lammy after fare dispute

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Nassim Mimun, who left with Lammy’s and his wife’s bags after ‘tone escalated’, acquitted owing to lack of evidence

A French taxi driver accused of stealing money and luggage from David Lammy has been acquitted due to lack of evidence, a prosecutor said.

Nassim Mimun, 40, drove the deputy prime minister and his wife, Nicola Green, more than 600km (370 miles) from Forli, near Bologna in northern Italy, to the ski resort of Flaine in the French Alps on 11 April.

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Yvette Cooper suggests international community on brink of Gaza peace deal

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Exclusive: Foreign secretary says world has ‘reached moment’ it wants to end war after Donald Trump signals plan within reach

The international community is on the brink of securing a peace deal for Gaza that could finally bring an end to two years of conflict and a humanitarian crisis that has claimed thousands of lives, Yvette Cooper has suggested.

The new foreign secretary, who has just returned from a UN summit, said that they had “reached a moment where the world wants to end this war” after US president Donald Trump indicated a peace deal was within reach.

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Family of British couple held in Iran say their health is deteriorating in prison

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Son of Lindsay Foreman expresses ‘real concerns’ after mother put on drip and stepfather, Craig, ‘constantly ill’

The family of Lindsay and Craig Foreman, a British couple detained in Iran on espionage charges, have said their health is deteriorating in prison.

The pair, both 52 and who previously split their time between Spain and England, were seized in Kerman, central Iran, and taken into custody in January while on an around-the-world motorcycle tour.

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Family of UK aid volunteer reportedly killed in Ukraine ‘disappointed’ by Foreign Office

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Relatives of Annie Lewis Marffy in ‘red-tape limbo’ over recovery of her body and issuing of death certificate

The family of a British aid volunteer reportedly killed in a drone strike in Ukraine said they were very disappointed by the reaction from the Foreign Office.

Annie Lewis Marffy, 69, travelled from her home in Silverton, near Exeter in Devon in late May to deliver supplies packed into a green Toyota Rav4 in a mission arranged by the non-profit organisation Aid Ukraine UK. She was to take the vehicle in convoy with a British volunteer to Kramatorsk in the contested Donbas region.

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UK government faces legal action over not evacuating critically ill children from Gaza

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Exclusive: Law firm representing three children says failure to facilitate medical evacuations is stark contrast to other conflicts

The UK government is facing a legal challenge over its decision not to medically evacuate critically ill children from Gaza in the way they have done for young people caught up in other conflicts.

The legal action, being taken against the Foreign Office and Home Office on behalf of three critically ill children in Gaza, argues that UK ministers have failed to take into account the lack of treatment options for children in the territory before denying medical evacuations.

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UK’s anti-corruption champion to visit offshore haven on fact-finding mission

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Foreign Office sending Margaret Hodge to British Virgin Islands to investigate slow progress against financial crime

The Foreign Office will dispatch the UK’s anti-corruption champion, Margaret Hodge, to the British Virgin Islands (BVIs) to find out why the offshore haven is dragging its feet on proposals designed to fight financial crime.

Several of the UK’s semi-autonomous British overseas territories missed last month’s deadline to implement new registers of corporate ownership, a measure targeting the secrecy regimes campaigners say benefit criminals and kleptocrats.

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British nationals who want to leave Israel to be offered flights to UK, says David Lammy

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Foreign secretary says government will provide charter flights from Tel Aviv when airspace reopens

British nationals who want to leave Israel will be offered charter flights from Tel Aviv as soon as airspace reopens, the government has said.

With the conflict with Iran continuing, Whitehall officials have been working to organise escape routes for the thousands of British and dual nationals in Israel.

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£5bn UK overseas aid cuts cannot be challenged in court, say government lawyers

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Claim comes in legal exchange with advocacy group ahead of judicial review of decision to slash support to 0.3% of gross national income

Cuts of £5bn to the UK overseas aid budget cannot be challenged in the courts, government lawyers have said, even though ministers have no plan to return spending to the legal commitment of 0.7 % of UK gross national income (GNI).

The assertion by Treasury solicitors that ministers are immune from legal challenge over aid cuts comes in preliminary exchanges with the aid advocacy group One Campaign. It is the first step in what could prove a highly embarrassing judicial review.

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Fears voiced as Britons in Israel advised to stay while embassy families depart

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UK Foreign Office causes confusion as it urges British nationals to register their presence but not to leave

The UK government removed families of Foreign Office officials from Israel due to security concerns but is continuing to advise British nationals to remain and to follow local guidance – prompting questions over whether the approaches are consistent.

While the dependants of diplomatic staff have left as a “precautionary measure”, with staff remaining at the embassy in Tel Aviv and the consulate in Jerusalem, the broader travel advice has not changed.

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Cuts to UK’s global vaccination funding would risk avoidable child deaths, experts warn

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Exclusive: Scientists also say any reduction in Foreign Office funding for vaccine alliance Gavi would harm UK’s soft power

Any cut in UK funding to a global vaccination group would damage soft power and could make British less resilient to infectious diseases, as well as causing avoidable deaths among children, leading vaccine and aid experts have warned.

Scientists including Sir Andrew Pollard, who led the development of the Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid vaccine, said a major cut in money for the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (Gavi) could also make the UK less able to respond to a future pandemic.

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British Chagossians accuse UK government of betrayal over sovereignty deal

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Bertrice Pompe and Bernadette Dugasse won a brief victory in bid to stop transfer of Chagos Islands to Mauritius

Two women who brought an 11th-hour legal challenge to try to stop the UK transferring sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius have accused the government of betrayal.

British Chagossians Bertrice Pompe, 54, and Bernadette Dugasse, 68, who were both born on the largest of the islands, Diego Garcia, vowed to keep fighting to try to realise their dream of returning to their place of birth.

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UK to conclude Chagos Islands deal after court lifts last-minute injunction

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Government due to give green light to deal handing sovereignty of islands to Mauritius

The UK government is due to conclude its deal to cede sovereignty over the Chagos Islands after an eleventh-hour high court injunction was lifted.

Ministers are preparing to finalise the agreement to hand over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius after they were blocked from doing so for several hours by a court ruling in the early hours of Thursday.

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British man being held in Saudi Arabia jailed for 10 years, say lawyers

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UK Foreign Office criticised by campaigners as Ahmed al-Doush given sentence for charges thought to relate to deleted tweet

A British national arrested in Saudi Arabia on charges that appear to relate to a deleted tweet has been jailed for 10 years, according to British lawyers and campaign groups representing the family.

Ahmed al-Doush was arrested in August and, while it is understood that UK Foreign Office officials were allowed into the Saudi court for his hearing, the British government has been criticised for a lack of action since his arrest.

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Labour MPs push for Foreign Office to recognise Palestinian statehood

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Emily Thornberry calls for UK to join France, as Emmanuel Macron says June UN conference must be decisive moment

The Foreign Office is under pressure from Labour MPs to recognise a Palestinian state if Emmanuel Macron, the French president, presses ahead with plans to recognise Palestine at an international conference set for June.

France is co-chairing the conference at the UN in New York alongside Saudi Arabia, and Macron has said the conference must be a decisive moment.

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Elderly British couple ‘interrogated 29 times by Taliban’ since imprisonment

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Daughter of Peter and Barbie Reynolds, 79 and 75, says they have ‘no idea’ why they have been in jail for two months

An elderly British couple taken captive by the Taliban have been interrogated 29 times since they were imprisoned more than two months ago, and still have “absolutely no idea” why they have been incarcerated, their daughter has said.

No charges have been brought against Peter Reynolds, 79, and his wife, Barbie, 75, who ran school training programmes and were arrested alongside an American friend, Faye Hall, as they travelled to their home in Bamyan province, in central Afghanistan, in February.

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British activist in solitary confinement in India despite acquittal, family say

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Brother of Jagtar Singh Johal claims he is being ‘mentally tortured’ through unwarranted detention

The British Sikh activist Jagtar Singh Johal, detained for seven years in an Indian jail, has been placed into solitary confinement and under 24-hour surveillance despite being acquitted of all terrorism charges against him by a Punjab court on 4 March, his family have claimed.

Johal is still facing the exact same charges in a parallel case in a clear example of double jeopardy, his brother Gurpreet said when giving testimony at Westminster to an all party committee on arbitrary detention. He said the Indian courts have not granted his brother bail, despite the prosecutor’s failure to produce any credible evidence or witnesses in the Punjab court.

Gurpreet said UK consular staff met his brother in jail on Tuesday and were told he had been put into solitary confinement with a 24-hour guard, adding no explanation had been given.

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Donald Trump signs off UK’s handover of Chagos Islands to Mauritius

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No 10 says deal to cede UK’s last African colony now being finalised after months of doubt

Donald Trump has signed off the UK’s handover of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, Downing Street has indicated, paving the way for the UK to cede sovereignty over its last African colony after a six-month standoff.

Under the terms of the deal, the UK will give up control of the Chagos archipelago while paying to maintain control of a joint US-UK military base on the largest island, Diego Garcia, under a 99-year lease.

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British tourist missing after boat catches fire off Thai island

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Alexandra Clarke, 26, was on a diving excursion near Koh Tao when blaze broke out

A British tourist is missing in Thailand after the tour boat she was travelling on caught fire off the island of Koh Tao.

Alexandra Clarke, 26, from Lambeth, south London, was onboard the Davy Jones Locker for a diving excursion.

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Columbia graduate detained by Ice was respected British government employee

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Mahmoud Khalil described by former colleague at UK office for Syria as well liked and extensively vetted

A detained Columbia University graduate threatened with deportation after the Trump administration claimed he poses a risk to US foreign policy is a former employee of the British government who was extensively vetted before working at the embassy in Beirut.

Mahmoud Khalil, a recent graduate from a Columbia University master’s programme, was arrested at home on 9 March as he returned with his wife from a dinner to break their fast during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

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