British Foreign Secretary William Hague said Thursday that the new U.K. government is already looking into the issue of universal jurisdiction, describing the current situation as "unsatisfactory" and "indefensible".

Judges in Britain can issue arrest warrants for war crimes suspects around the world under the Geneva Convention Act 1957, without any requirement to consult public prosecutors.

Speaking to reporters early Thursday, the Foreign Secretary said that "we cannot have a position where Israeli politicians feel they cannot visit this country and indeed not just Israel, but this could apply to many other nations as well. So this has to be put right. And that is well understood and agreed in the coalition government."

Open gallery view Britain's Foreign Secretary William Hague in Madrid, May 17, 2010. Credit: Reuters

A London court last year issued a warrant for the arrest of opposition leader Tzipi Livni over her role in Israel's war in Gaza, launched at the end of 2008 when Livni was the foreign minister.

Livni reportedly cancelled a trip to the U.K. in December for fear of being arrested after the warrant was filed against her following an application by Palestinian activists.

Hague said he hopes "we'll make a decision about this fairly soon. I can't say exactly when but you can be assured that we're working on it. We find it completely unacceptable that someone such as Mrs. Livni feels she cannot visit the United Kingdom. This is a country that wants to play a strong role in the Middle East peace process as we have just been discussing and for that Israeli leaders and others have to be able to visit the United Kingdom."

Speaking to Parliament on Wednesday, the Foreign Secretary said: "We will take every opportunity to help promote peace and we will now examine how to deal with the totally unsatisfactory situation that has had the effect of barring Israeli politicians, among others, from visiting the U.K. without weakening our commitment to hold accountable those guilty of war crimes."

