The government has admitted misleading Parliament in its response to a BBC report about former Afghan special forces being denied entry to the UK.
BBC Panorama reported in February that UK Special Forces had vetoed resettlement applications from Afghan commandos – known as the “Triples” – who had fought alongside the SAS.
The veto was controversial because it gave UK Special Forces decision-making power at a time when the Afghan commandos were potential witnesses to a war crimes inquiry investigating the SAS.
Former members of the elite regiment said that was a clear conflict of interest, saying it could stop members of the Triples giving evidence by keeping them out of the country.
The BBC report prompted the shadow armed forces minister, Luke Pollard, to write to the Ministry of Defence (MoD) in February to ask whether UK Special Forces did have a veto over Triples applications.
An MoD minister responded: “Addressing the point you raise on a ‘veto’, I can confirm that no such mechanism exists, or has existed, for any government department or government body.”
Separately, the former SNP defence spokesperson, Stewart McDonald, submitted a question in Parliament and was also told UK Special Forces had never had a veto over such applications.
The denials suggested the BBC’s reporting was inaccurate.
But Mr McDonald received a letter this week from Defence Minister Andrew Murrison informing him that an “error has been identified in the parliamentary question response provided to you on 22 March 2024”.
The letter went on to say that, under a standard operating procedure previously in use, UK Special Forces assessments had been used by MoD caseworkers to decide whether or not to proceed with Triples’ resettlement applications. That essentially gave them a veto over the applications.
Speaking to the BBC, Mr McDonald said the reversal was “an extraordinary admission by the UK government, and a complete and utter betrayal of those Afghan men who fought alongside UK personnel and now face being hunted by and executed by the Taliban”.
Source: BBC
