The Foreign Secretary apologised to MPs today after it emerged that two American “rendition flights” of CIA detainees had landed on British soil, contradicting previous statements from the Government.

David Miliband told the House of Commons that he had now been informed by the US Government that the controversial flights – one en route to Guantanamo Bay and one to Morocco – stopped over at Diego Garcia, the British overseas territory in the Indian Ocean.

He said the US had just alerted the Government to the incidents, explaining the oversight due to “record errors” and was “very sorry indeed” that previous information given by ministers to the Commons had been incorrect.

He said his officials would compile a list of flights where rendition through British territories had been suspected and request “specific assurance” from the US in each case.

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Admission that Diego Garcia was used for rendition flight refuelling is deeply embarrassing for both London and Washington

Richard Beeston, Foreign Editor

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Rendition refers to the abduction and transport of detainees to foreign jails for coercive interrogation, a practice that gathered pace after the 9/11 attacks.

“In both cases a US plane with a single detainee on board refuelled at the U.S. facilities at Diego Garcia,” said Mr Miliband. He said neither of the two men was a British resident or citizen. One is still being detained at Guantanamo Bay, the other has been released.

The information flies in the face of assurances given as late as last summer. Responding to the statement in the Commons, the Conservative shadow foreign secretary William Hague referred to a series of statements by the former Prime Minister Tony Blair and the former Foreign Secretary Jack Straw.

When the US practice of extraordinary rendition first came to light, the Government came under intense pressure to reveal whether it had ever colluded with the practice, by sharing intelligence that led to rendition, or by allowing flights to pass through its airports.

Campaigners pointed out that when any such flight had landed on British soil it came under British jurisdiction. In late November 2005 Jack Straw, the then Foreign Secretary, wrote to Dr Rice to ask for clarification on the purpose of some 80 flights that were known to have passed through the UK.

Questioned by the parliamentary committee on foreign affairs on December 13, 2005, Mr Straw denied that any CIA flights carrying prisoners abroad had passed through British airfields. He said the world should accept the "serious assurance" of the United States that it was not transferring prisoners abroad to be tortured.

After "thorough" searching of government records, no requests from the United States to use British airspace or airfields for prisoner transfers had been found, he said.

Mr Straw concluded that “unless we all start to believe in conspiracy theories and that the officials are lying, I’m lying and that behind this there is some kind of secret state in league with some dark forces in the US, and we believe Secretary Rice is lying, there is simply no truth in the claims that the UK has been involved in rendition.”

An even more specific statement was given on July 18 last year by Lord Malloch Brown, minister for Africa, Asia and the UN, to the effect that the US authorities had “repeatedly given us assurances that no prisoners have passed through Diego Garcia.”

Mr Hague said allegations that the CIA had abducted terrorist suspects and transported them to jails for torture in obscure foreign jails had “undermined the standing of the US and its allies.”

The delay before the correct information on rendition had come to light was “bound to undermine public trust to some extend in the arrangements we have with the US,” he said.

Mr Miliband said that Dr Rice “shares my deep regret that this information has only just come to light.”

“We fully accept that the US gave us its earlier assurance in good faith,” he said.

Mr Miliband said the UK expects the US to seek permission before rendering detainees through British territory.

“We will grant that permission only if we are satisfied that the rendition would accord with UK law and our international obligations,” he added.

Responding to the statement, Kate Allen, director of Amnesty International UK, said extraordinary rendition was “a polite way of talking about kidnapping and secret detention”.

She said: “It is not enough for the Government simply to accept US assurances on correct behaviour in the war on terror - we should retain our own integrity and act accordingly.

“It’s now important that David Miliband puts on the record the Government’s absolute condemnation of the US practice of ’extraordinary rendition’ and all kidnapping and secret detention in the war on terror.”

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