Skip to main content

Govt apologises for 'inadvertent' arms sales to Saudi Arabia

Published on: 18 Sep 2019

The government has been forced to apologise after it approved the sale of military products to Saudi Arabia in breach of a suspension from the Court of Appeal.

It was ruled in June that arms exports to the Middle Eastern country would be halted due to issues surrounding the humanitarian crisis in Yemen.

However, in July, the British government granted one licence for an air cooler to be shipped to Saudi Arabia and another for the export of radio spares.

In a letter to the Commons Committees on Arms Export Controls, international trade secretary Liz Truss said the breach of the conditions had been 'inadvertent'.

"I have apologised to the court unreservedly for the error in granting these two licences," she added.

According to the Campaign Against Arms Trade, the UK has licensed £5.3 billion worth of arms to Saudi Arabia since March 2015, when the conflict began in Yemen.