The plight of a group of island exiles has been taken up by the Foreign Office.

Prime Minister Tony Blair has given Foreign Secretary Jack Straw responsibility for ending the misery of up to 100 displaced people from the Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia.

The move has been welcomed by a group of 15 islanders who have been sleeping rough at Westminster for the past fortnight to draw attention to their plight.

They took to the streets of London after having to leave their hotel in Crawley when West Sussex County Council's six-month obligation to provide accommodation reached its deadline.

The council had already spent £500,000 on hotel bills for the group.

The Government had until now stalled over which department should take responsibility for the exiles' plight.

Group spokesman Gabriel Valentin, 46, said the decision meant the group, British passport holders, finally knew where to focus.

He said: "This makes things easier because a lot of different departments have so far denied responsibility.

"Hopefully we can now look forward to a solution."

The islanders' home was handed over by its British colonial controllers 30 years ago and is now a US missile base.