G20: May To Urge Cutting off Terrorism Funds despite Cozy Relations with Saudi

Local Editor

British Prime Minister Theresa May is to make cutting off funding for terrorists the centerpiece of her G20 negotiating goals, despite sitting on a report about whether Britain's close ally Saudi Arabia funds terrorism.

May arrived in Hamburg for international talks with other world leaders on Thursday night, where she will urge the international community to crack down on "permissive environments for terrorist financing".

However, May's push drew accusations of hypocrisy on the basis of her close links with Saudi Arabia and refusal to release a Home Office report into whether the country has been using its oil cash to fund terrorism and extremism abroad.

Nevertheless, May on Monday phoned Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia and said she "looked forward to deepening our close bilateral ties", according to a Downing Street readout of their conversation.

Another report by the Henry Jackson Society think tank released on Wednesday said there was a "clear and growing link" between extremists and Saudi Arabian cash.

May's separate official Home Office report in to Saudi funding, commissioned in 2015 as a condition of Liberal Democrat support for supporting bombing in Syria, is yet to be released.

In this respect, the BBC previously reported that the report is finished but may not ever be released because of its potentially embarrassing content.

The Home Office previously admitted the contents of the report are "very sensitive".

For his part, Labor Party leader Jeremy Corbyn said: "If Theresa May is serious about cutting off financial and ideological support for terrorism, she should publish the suppressed report on foreign funding of UK-based extremism and have difficult conversations with Saudi Arabia, not hug Saudi and allied Gulf States even closer."

Meanwhile, Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron said May should raise the issue of funding for extremism in direct bilateral talks with Saudi Arabia at the Hamburg conference, criticizing her for sitting on the report.

Source: The Independent, Edited by website team