BRITAIN is still sharing intelligence with America despite fears it could be used to bomb drug boats in the Caribbean, the Foreign Secretary has signalled.
Yvette Cooper denied reports Britain had stopped sharing intel over fears the US strikes are illegal.
US forces have blitzed at least 21 alleged “narco boats” and killed at least 83 people off the coast of Venezuela.
Cooper said sharing “continues” and suggested reports to the contrary were fake news.
She said: “We have a longstanding intelligence and law enforcement framework, particularly with our Five Eyes partners, but also more broadly as well.
“Those frameworks continue – intelligence sharing as part of those frameworks continues.”
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio dismissed reports that Britain stopped sharing as “fake news”.
Cooper referred to his comments, saying: “As you know we don’t comment on the details of intelligence matters, but you will probably have seen that the US Secretary of State has dismissed some of the reports there have been.”
According to CNN the UK stopped sharing intelligence on suspected drug trafficking vessels in the Caribbean as it does not want to be “complicit” in illegal US strikes.
The Foreign Office had refused to comment on the claims until now.
Speaking after a G7 meeting in Canada, Rubio insisted “nothing has changed”.
He said: “We have very strong partnerships with the UK and other countries.
“Nothing has changed or happened that has impeded in any way our ability to do what we’re doing, nor are we asking anyone to help us with what we’re doing at any – in any realm, and that includes military.”
America gets automatic access to huge swathes of GCHQ’s raw intelligence data from signals intercepts.
But human intelligence – from secret agents – is normally shared on a case-by-case basis.
UK spies could stop sharing without any formal or abrupt announcement.
British intelligence is vital to Royal Navy counter-drug missions.
British frigates and patrol vessels are permanently based in the Caribbean “to tackle the scourge of drug trafficking”.
The Navy says its primary mission is to “work with our friends and allies”.
Elite Royal Marine commandos routinely scramble on fast attack boats and Wildcat helicopters to board suspected smuggling vessels and seize their illegal cargoes.
They work with the US Navy and the US Coast Guard.
Speaking on HMS Prince Wales, the Navy’s aircraft carrier in Naples, Cooper also appeared sympathetic towards Trump’s threats to depose Venezuela’s leader Nicholas Maduro.
She said: “There are real issues around the stability in Venezuela and also support for democracy in Venezuela.
“There are also issues right across the area around the scale of the criminal drug gang networks and some of the serious threats we’ve seen in terms of criminal threats as well as issues around state stability.
“So we will continue to work with international partners, continue to discuss these issues with the US, but continue to maintain all those international discussions as well.”
Mr Trump has defended the campaign by claiming the US is in “armed conflict” with drug cartels flooding America.
It all comes as America’s biggest military mobilisation since the Iraq war is taking shape in the Caribbean Sea after the Department of War launched Operation Southern Spear.
The world’s biggest aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford thundered into the Caribbean Sea on Sunday as part of the US military buildup in the region.
A small number of Royal Navy sailors are serving as exchange officers on the USS Gerald R Ford carrier strike group, raising fears they could be dragged into an illegal war.
US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that the military operation would target “narco-terrorists” in the Western Hemisphere.
Though Hegseth gave no details of what the operation would entail, US officials say Southern Spear will aim to dismantle the cartel-militia networks across Venezuela.
It is the clearest signal yet that the US forces are now openly preparing for a military confrontation against Venezuela.
And the strikes could target everything from army bases to drug labs, drug trafficking installations, and Maduro’s fierce guerrilla camps.
Washington accuses Venezuela’s regime, led by Maduro and his top aides, of flooding drugs inside the American territory.
Earlier on Sunday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the US would designate Cartel de los Soles as a “foreign terrorist organisation”.
US officials have accused Cartel de los Soles of working with the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, which Washington previously designated a foreign terrorist organisation, to send illegal narcotics to the US.
The Trump administration has alleged that Maduro leads Cartel de Los Soles.
Maduro has denied the allegations against him and has accused Washington of trying to orchestrate a regime change campaign to topple him.
HORROR TOWN
Our once proud town is besieged by masked machete yobs – even cops are targets
CRUEL ORDEAL
I was blinded & my pals were killed by dangerous trend in Brit holiday hotspot
Trump said on Friday that he had “sort of made up my mind” on Venezuela, suggesting that a decision could come soon amid fears the US is ready to wage a war in the Caribbean.
But on Sunday, he said the US may hold last-minute crunch talks with Maduro to avoid an all-out war.