MINISTERS must face up to the US’s use of Diego Garcia for torture and kidnapping flights, legal action charity Reprieve demanded yesterday.

The lawyers called for action after the Commons foreign affairs committee said public confidence had been “dented” by the 2008 disclosure that the US used Britain’s Indian Ocean territory in its extraordinary rendition programme, despite previous assurances to the contrary.

MPs told the government that the deal with the US letting it use the island should explicitly ban the torture flights.

The current agreement expires in 2016.

Reprieve strategic director Cori Crider said: “Serious questions remain for the UK government regarding the use of the island by the CIA’s torture flights.

“Ministers need to stop ducking the question and come clean — then take steps to ensure such abuses can never happen again.”