Britain will impose sanctions on authoritarian regimes that harass and imprison dissident journalists and campaigners, as part of its role as a "good global citizen" after Brexit, Dominic Raab declares today.

Writing in The Sunday Telegraph, the Foreign Secretary pledges that the Government will use new legislation to “provide a layer of UK accountability” against “those who target journalists, whistle-blowers and human rights campaigners with impunity in their own countries”.

The move follows calls by MPs for ministers to use economic sanctions, such as asset freezes and travel bans, to punish foreign officials involved in “violating media freedom”.

The Commons foreign affairs committee had expressed concern that the UK has not imposed sanctions on Saudi figures in relation to the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, the Saudi-born Washington Post columnists killed in the kingdom’s consulate in Istanbul a year ago.

As he prepares to fly to New York with Boris Johnson, to attend the UN General Assembly, Mr Raab signals that ministers will take unilateral action against those involved in intimidating or locking up journalists, when Britain sets its own sanctions policy after Brexit, having previously been part of a joint approach taken by EU members.

"When we leave the EU, we will ... reinforce our sanctions legislation to hold those who commit serious abuses of human rights to account – by barring them from entering the UK, and freezing their assets such as bank accounts,” Mr Raab states.