Plan to Change War Crimes Law Delayed by General Election

The Israeli government said it was disappointed, but pro-Palestinian MPs said Straw was right to reject its pressure for rushed changes to British law.

Expectations that a change in the law was imminent were raised yesterday by a signed article by Gordon Brown in the Daily Telegraph which backed proposals to end the current system under which magistrates are obliged to consider applications for an arrest warrant for crimes under international law presented by a private individual.

"The only question for me is whether our purpose is best served by a process where an arrest warrant for the gravest crimes can be issued on the slightest evidence," wrote Brown. "As we have seen, there is now significant danger of such a provision being exploited by politically-motivated organisations and individuals."

Ministers say they want the right to prosecute in such "universal jurisdiction" cases to be restricted to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), where they involve offences committed outside Britain, by people who are not British nationals.

This will raise the bar for such arrest warrants to be issued, as the CPS will have to consider whether there is a realistic likelihood of a successful prosecution. But when the statement was made by Straw to MPs he disclosed that change will not happen before the general election: "Rather than legislating now, we are going to seek views on the proposals we are minded to make."