British citizens facing charges in the United States would be tried in the UK under revision of treaty implemented after 9/11
David Cameron is to press Washington to allow greater numbers of British citizens facing charges in the US to be tried in Britain rather than face extradition to the US under a contentious treaty.
British and US officials are to examine the implementation of the extradition treaty, introduced in the aftermath of 9/11, amid criticisms that it is weighted against British citizens.
The team will be appointed after the prime minister raised the extradition treaty with Barack Obama during their talks at the White House on Wednesday.
Cameron said: "I raised this issue with President Obama today. We had a good discussion. We will be following this up with further talks between our teams. We have carried out an independent review of the treaty which found that it was balanced. But I recognise there are concerns about how it is implemented in practice and that is what our teams will look at."
The prime minister raised the matter with Obama after an intensification of criticisms of the treaty in the wake of the extradition of Christopher Tappin, a retired Kent businessman, to the US.
It also follows a decision on Tuesday by the home secretary Theresa May to sign an extradition order to send the TVShack website founder, Richard O'Dwyer, to the US to stand trial for alleged copyright offences. O'Dwyer, 23, set up the website, which the American authorities claim hosted links to pirated copyrighted films and television programmes.
Tappin, who is facing allegations of arms dealing, is being held in custody in Texas after US prosecutors told Judge Robert Castaneda at a federal court in El Paso, Texas, that Tappin may be a "danger to the community" if released. The retired businessman denies attempting to sell batteries for surface-to-air missiles. These were to be shipped from the US to Tehran via the Netherlands.
The Conservatives and Liberal Democrats said in opposition that the treaty, which was agreed in 2003, is unfair to British citizens. It is being used in the extradition of the computer hacker Gary MacKinnon.
Campaigners against the treaty suffered a setback when an independent review of Britain's extradition arrangements by Sir Scott-Baker gave the treaty a clean bill of health last October. Scott-Baker came down against a move dating back to 2006 to give British judges the power to decide whether a case would be better heard in Britain. This is known as the "forum amendment".
Scott-Baker declined to endorse this proposal. He said the treaties were balanced and fair because prosecutors were better placed to decide in which country a trial should be held.
Cameron, who endorsed the "forum amendment" while he was in opposition, is reviving the idea in talks with the US. But privately No10 acknowledges that it will be difficult to persuade the US to accept changes to the treaty after an independent review in the UK endorsed the treaty.