Day: July 9, 2016

    Britain’s secretive provision of police training to foreign regimes with dubious human rights records threatens the integrity of the UK “brand” of policing that such programmes aim to promote internationally, a parliamentary report has warned. In highly critical findings about how security personnel from states such as Saudi Arabia benefit from British assistance, the home affairs select committee describe the government’s refusal to reveal details of “opaque” training agreements as “totally unacceptable”. The MPs also state that the lack of transparency around the contracts mean the Foreign Office’s own guidance on ensuring human rights obligations are met may not be “fit for purpose.” They call for the government to secure written guarantees in future that such training ...

    David Cameron is to send more British troops to Afghanistan amid concerns about the deteriorating security situation. The Prime Minister, attending the Nato summit in Warsaw, will announce that he is to deploy up to 50 additional personnel to help build up the beleaguered Afghan security forces. They will join the 450 British troops already in the country who had been due to return at the end of this year but will now have their mission extended into 2017. The move follows the announcement by President Barack Obama that he is to keep the remaining 8,400 US troops in Afghanistan for the remainder of his presidency, further slowing the draw-down of US forces. Arriving in Warsaw, Mr Cameron said it was essential that Nato continued "to work with the Afghan government and the ...

    The hopes of more than 4.1 million people who signed a petition calling for a second referendum on the EU have faded, after a response from the government saying was a “once in a generation vote”. Parliament must consider all petitions that reach a threshold of 100,000 votes for a debate and, although the decision has yet to consider the motion for a debate, the Foreign Office responded to the signatories by email on Friday evening, pointing out that over 33 million have had their say. Referring to the wording of the petition, which asks for a second vote to be held because the vote to leave did not surpass 60% of the vote and the turnout was less than 75%, the government response states that the European Union Referendum Act did not include rules about minimum turnout. Th...