As power slips from Gaddafi regime, David Cameron returns from Cornwall for meeting of National Security Council and Nick Clegg promises UK will not 'turn its back' on Libya
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Andrew Sparrow, senior political correspondent
guardian.co.uk, Monday 22 August 2011 09.13 BST
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Libya uprising: celebrations in Tajura, a suburb of Tripoli, after rebels surged into the city on Sunday. Photograph: -/AFP/Getty Images
David Cameron will chair a meeting of the National Security Council on Libya on Monday morning after abandoning his holiday in response to the news that Colonel Gaddafi has lost control of Tripoli.
The prime minister returned to London from Cornwall late on Sunday night after it emerged that Gaddafi's regime was on the brink of collapse.
"It is clear from the scenes we are witnessing in Tripoli that the end is near for Gaddafi," Number 10 said in a statement on Sunday.
Alistair Burt, a Foreign Office minister, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme on Monday morning that Gaddafi should abandon his resistance and "spare further bloodshed".
Cameron took a leading role in persuading the United Nations security council to pass the resolution authorising the Nato intervention in Libya and Britain has spent around £260m on military support for the rebels.
Burt said that at the National Security Council meeting ministers would be discussing the need to impose order in Tripoli following the fall of Gaddafi.
"The first and most important thing is to make sure civil order is preserved, that there's food and power, all the things that people need to make sure their daily lives go on," Burt said.
Burt said the National Transitional Council – the rebel group that is now recognised as the official government of Libya by 32 countries, including Britain – had been preparing for this moment.
"The evidence of what's happening in other cities would suggest that when the National Transitional Council has been in charge instead of the Gaddafi regime, things have worked perfectly well, perfectly smoothly – no major reprisals against those who previously had been supporting the regime," Burt said. "And that of course is what we want to see – stable order in Tripoli."
Burt said there would be some "difficult times" ahead. But it was important to recognise how important this moment was for the Libyans, he said.
"For those of us who live with freedom every day, I think it's difficult for us to understand how it must feel for people who have not felt that for more than a generation and now feel in control of their own country," he said.
Douglas Alexander, the shadow foreign secretary, said the government needed to make it clear what support would be available to the Libyans.
"It's important there is clarity emerging from the [UK] government as to what support it is prepared to offer, through the United Nations, through the European Union, working closely with the Arab League.
"It's important to recognise that this has been an international effort to support the people of Libya," he said.
"Our learning from past conflicts shows us that security in the hours and days ahead is going to be absolutely fundamental. If it were to descend into looting and tribal conflict then it is a far more difficult circumstance in which to get control back."
Nick Clegg, the deputy prime minister, is giving a speech on the "Arab spring" later on Monday and, according to extracts released in advance, he will say that Britain will not "turn its back" on the millions of people in the Arab world fighting for their freedom.
He is expected to say that British intervention in Libya has already saved "tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of lives" and that, although it is not certain exactly how events in the region will develop, the overall "direction of travel" is clear.
"The fundamental forces driving these changes are here to stay," he will say.
"Youth. Technology. A lack of opportunity and inclusion. Factors which have collided to create citizens who want more, who know more, who aspire to more. But who are denied it at every turn.
"This year that tension has hit boiling point. We can be confident the appetite for reform will remain."
Clegg will say that Britain "will not turn its back on the millions of citizens of Arab states looking to open up their societies, looking for a better life."
Britain is backing reform in the region because it values freedom, self-determination and human rights, he will say. But Britain is also championing democracy for trade reasons.
"We also care because stability and prosperity over there feed directly into jobs and security over here. We exported around £24.5bn worth of goods and services to the region last year alone," he will say.
Clegg will say that Britain has been encouraging the European Union to offer more assistance to countries embracing reform in North Africa and the Middle East. The EU is committed to making trade concessions in the short term and to free trade agreements in the long term, he will say.
But these concessions will only apply if countries make "clear progress on reform".
On Libya specifically, Clegg will defend Britain's decision to intervene and promise that Britain will "stay the course – protecting the Libyan people and putting them in charge of their own fate".
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