Sat, 01:21 21 Jun 2008 GMT17

 

Britain's Miliband breaks Mideast trip before vote
09 Jun 2008 19:50:57 GMT
Source: Reuters
(Updates with Miliband comments)

RAMALLAH, West Bank, June 9 (Reuters) - British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said on Monday he had scrapped meetings with Israeli leaders to return to London for an important parliamentary vote on security that the government risks losing.

After meeting Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Miliband told reporters: "There's a parliamentary vote...and that means that I'm going to have to curtail my visit."

A British embassy official said Miliband had cancelled meetings planned for Tuesday in Jerusalem with Israeli ministers and would instead fly back to Britain early in the morning.

Miliband said he would try to make good on his plans for meetings with Israeli officials as soon as possible.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown faces a rebellion among his Labour party backbenchers against a proposed law that would extend the limit on pre-charge detention for terrorism suspects to 42 days from 28.

Brown has made a last ditch appeal for support from his party in the vote, which takes place on Wednesday. Brown's poll ratings are at an all-time low after the loss of a formerly safe parliamentary seat, a drubbing in local elections and with the economy slowing sharply. Defeat in the security vote in parliament would seriously erode his authority.

(Reporting by Pool Reporter and Wafa Amr in Ramallah and Alastair Macdonald in Jerusalem)
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Palestinian policemen loyal to Hamas rest at the Hamas headquarters in Gaza June 20, 2008. Israel and Hamas halted fighting in the Gaza Strip on Thursday but, with peace prospects dim, ...



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