The UK’s opposition to the death penalty has not changed, the security minister has said – after a government letter about two IS suspects emerged.

Ben Wallace said the message from Home Secretary Sajid Javid to the US attorney general – that the UK would not “require assurances” over the death penalty – was a “rare decision”.

But Labour said the UK was abandoning a “principled opposition”.

The IS suspects were captured in Syria and could be sent to the US for trial.

Alexanda Kotey and El Shafee Elsheik, from London, are accused of being the last two members of an IS cell dubbed “The Beatles”, which killed Western hostages.

After the pair were caught in January by US-backed Syrian Kurdish fighters they complained they would not get a fair trial because the UK government had stripped them of their British citizenship.