LIBYA is now a safe haven for al-Qaida plotters, Defence Minister Mark Lancaster told Parliament this week.

Mr Lancaster admitted that the north African country’s “ongoing instability has provided greater freedom of movement,” allowing the terrorist organisation to “plan and co-ordinate activity.”

He added: “The Ministry of Defence does not routinely assess the strength of al-Qaida in Libya; al-Qaida has suffered losses and is not the dominant security threat in Libya, although it has long maintained a presence in the south of Libya.”

The admission is another indictment of Britain’s intervention in Libya, which Parliament’s foreign affairs committee said in 2016 had resulted in “political and economic collapse, inter-militia and inter-tribal warfare, humanitarian and migrant crises, widespread human-rights violations, the spread of Gadaffi regime weapons across the region and the growth of Isil [Islamic State] in north Africa.”

The instability also allowed Manchester Arena bomber Salman Abedi to move freely between Libya and Britain, resulting in the deaths of 22 people.