Britain tries to reach deal on Guantanamo prisoners

Britain and the US are trying to hammer out a deal that would give some sort of concession to two British prisoners being held at Guantanamo Bay who are due to be tried by a military tribunal. An announcement is due to be made later today.

Tony Blair and George Bush said one of the topics they had agreed to discuss was the fate of Feroz Abbasi and Moazzam Begg, two of six prisoners that the US says it intends to place before a tribunal. If convicted they could face the death penalty.

"We will work with the Blair government on this and we have said we are going to discuss this," said Mr Bush. But he added: "The only thing I know for certain is that these are bad people."

Mr Blair has been desperate to be seen to achieve some sort of concession for the two prisoners - two of eight Britons being held at Guantanamo Bay without access to lawyers for almost 18 months since the end of the war in Afghanistan.

The options for Mr Bush are limited. He could technically agree to allow the two men to be tried within the US civilian justice system. He is unlikely to allow the two men to return to Britain, where it is unlikely a court would convict them.