British citizens abroad will have a statutory right to receive Foreign Office consular assistance under a Labour government in plans proposed by the shadow foreign secretary, David Lammy.
The proposals come in the wake of repeated complaints by British prisoners abroad of Foreign Office indifference, or determination to put British diplomatic interests ahead of individual citizens.
In a speech to the Labour conference, Lammy will say it is time to learn the lessons from British-Iranian dual citizens such as Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and the British Sikh activist Jagtar Singh Johal, who is still being held in an Indian jail without charge.
At present there is no legal obligation for the UK government to provide consular assistance to a UK citizen, even in cases involving allegations of torture or arbitrary detention, leaving it entirely at the discretion of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and government ministers. Some EU countries such as Germany recognise a specific right of citizens to consular assistance.
The call for a legal duty on the FCDO to provide assistance to British citizens abroad has been a longstanding demand of the NGOs such as Redress after families of British citizens held abroad have often found they are left to their own devices to campaign for the release of a family member.
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