Britain 'didn't stop sharing intelligence' with the US over missile strikes on narco boats

Mr Rubio, speaking to the press at the G7 in Hamilton, Canada, said: “I did see a CNN report yesterday – I’m not going to go into great detail other than to say that it’s a false story. It’s a fake story.”

He continued: “And what’s happening now is people with a business card that has a Government email on it become sources because they don’t know – they’re not even in the know, so they either have an agenda or they want to make themselves important.

“And it’s been a plague of story after story that’s either inaccurate or misleading, and that falls in the category of both, that story does.”

Marco Rubio added that the UK and US have a strong relationship and there has been no change in status.

Responding to a question about whether the UK had expressed concern over the narco boat strikes to him, Mr Rubio said: “I’ve not discussed that with them. They have not discussed it with me.”

Mr Rubio added: “They certainly didn’t raise it today. It didn’t come up one time.”

CNN reported that the UK had stopped providing intelligence over a month ago after concerns the intelligence was being used to select strike targets.

British intelligence would be sent to Joint Interagency Task Force South, a task force based in Florida which works to reduce illicit international drug trade across a group of partner nations — a process that CNN claims is no longer happening.

This intelligence was normally used by the US to locate vessels and, in turn, the US Coast Guard would intercept them by boarding the boats and seizing the crew and narcotics.

The strikes, which have killed 76 so far, face criticism over their legal basis.

The US President has said the attacks, beginning in September, are justified through wartime powers.

He declared the US is in “armed conflict” with the drug cartels and their members are “unlawful combatants”, which would make the attacks legal under international law.

Mr Trump gave another justification for the attacks, saying that each boat is laden with enough narcotics to kill 25,000 Americans.

The G7 in Canada was attended by foreign secretaries from all seven countries, with invitations extended to the foreign ministers of Australia, Brazil, India, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, South Africa and Ukraine.

The meeting had a priority on long-term peace and stability in the Middle East, said Canadian Foreign Minister Anita Anand to The Associated Press.

In a joint statement released by the Government from the G7 ministers, it reiterated its commitment to strengthening G7 coordination on maritime security.