Libyan diplomats are today scheduled to pass a letter to the United Nations security council in New York accepting responsibility for the 1988 Lockerbie bombing.

The letter will also make clear its willingness to pay £1.7 billion in compensation to the families of the 270 people killed.

However, France is threatening to veto the deal, demanding that Libya offer a bigger payout to relatives of French citizens killed in another Libyan terrorist attack, the 1989 bombing of a UTA plane over Niger.