To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, if she will make it her policy to suspend the sale of arms to Saudi Arabia.
Answered on
29 October 2019
All arms sales are subject to export licensing. The Consolidated EU and National Arms Export Licensing Criteria, last updated in a Written Ministerial Statement on 25 March 2014, remains the policy for assessing all licence applications.
The Court of Appeal judgment of 20 June 2019 placed the Government under an obligation not to grant any new licences to export items to Saudi Arabia for possible use in the conflict in Yemen. The Court remitted the decision whether to grant export licences for the sale or transfer of arms and military equipment to Saudi Arabia for possible use in the conflict in Yemen to the Secretary of State for International Trade to re-take on the correct legal basis.
Work is underway on the process of retaking decisions in accordance with the Order of the Court of Appeal.