Syria's chemical weapons are being destroyed at sea
Britain sold chemicals and components to Syria that ended up being used in the manufacture of the deadly nerve agent sarin, BBC Newsnight can reveal.
A leaked Foreign Office document says they were supplied in the mid-1980s.
Ministers will confirm within days that UK firms provided the materials and that Syria has admitted they played a role in its chemical weapons programme.
They will say there were no proper regulations at the time, but that tighter rules and controls exist now.
Sarin has been linked to a number of attacks in Syria's bloody three-year conflict.
'Tipping point'
A report by UN chemical weapons inspectors found "clear and convincing evidence" that surface-to-surface rockets containing sarin were fired at suburbs to the east and west of the Syrian capital Damascus last August - an attack that killed hundreds of people.
The US and UK accused President Bashar al-Assad's government of being behind the attacks, but Damascus blamed rebel groups fighting to topple him.
However, US, UK, French and Israeli officials have said there is also evidence that Syrian government forces used sarin against rebels and civilians on several previous occasions.
The conflict in Syria has created thousands of refugees
Attacks like those in Damascus proved the tipping point for the West - the redline that encouraged David Cameron and Barack Obama to consider military action to stop the conflict.
The UK took a leading role in forcing the Syrian regime to destroy its stockpiles of chemical weapons - and disclose to inspectors which countries were guilty of providing the materials.
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