£3.5m marine reserve bid

A SWISS billionaire has stepped in to save plans to create the world's largest marine reserve from public spending cuts.

Ministers are in talks over a 3.5 million deal for America's Cup-winning yachtsman Ernesto Bertarelli to fund the policing of the zone around the British-owned Chagos Islands.

The Marine Protected Area (MPA) will cover some quarter of a million square miles of the Indian Ocean and include a "no-take" reserve banning commercial fishing. It was approved by then foreign secretary David Miliband in April amid complaints that the Government failed to heed the needs of the territory's exiled inhabitants.

Italian-born Mr Bertarelli and his British wife Kirsty - a former Miss UK - share a 6 billion fortune based on pharmaceuticals and biotechnology.