UK significantly increases arms export licenses to Saudi Arabia, new figures show

A Yemeni inspects debris of a building destroyed by a Saudi-led airstrike on Houthi rebel-held Sanaa

Credit: YAHYA ARHAB/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

The UK has significantly increased the number of licences issued for weapons exports to Saudi Arabia, figures released Tuesday showed, despite concerns over how they could be used in the kingdom’s devastating war in Yemen. 

The latest UK arms export licensing quarterly report by the Department for International Trade shows £1.36 billion in new individual export licences for bombs, missiles and other weapons to Saudi Arabia.

“This is the largest increase in arms exports to Saudi Arabia since March 2015 and takes the known total of licenses up to £6.7 billion since the Saudi intervention in Yemen started,” said Martin Butcher, Oxfam’s conflict adviser said. “Once again UK politicians have put profit before Yemeni lives.”

Not included in those figures is a new open individual export licence, which is not limited in value or quantity, for a lengthy list of military-aircraft-related equipment, including airborne refuelling components.

The new figures come as the UK faces renewed scrutiny over its weapons sales to Saudi Arabia after Joe Biden, the US president, said last week he was ending all support for Riyadh’s military operations in Yemen. 

But the Government says the US decision will not stop the UK selling weapons to Saudi Arabia despite criticism from some Tory backbenchers. 

“The Saudis have as much right to defend themselves as anyone else,” said former international trade secretary Liam Fox.

But critics have questioned whether the UK risks falling out of step with its ally by continuing to sell weapons to Saudi Arabia.

“They may have been issued before the US election last year, but these licences could be suspended if the government so chose,” said Roy Isbister, head of the arms unit at international peace-building organisation Saferworld. “If, however, the UK continues on in this vein, these exports may well be seen as provocative in Washington.”

Mark Garnier, the chairman of the Commons Arms Export Controls Committee, said: "We scrutinise whether the government is adhering to policy correctly. Our view on this is that we and our committee need to give opportunity to all sides of the argument."

Following a one-year suspension ordered by the Court of Appeal, the Government resumed issuing export licenses for weapons to Saudi Arabia last July, after a review found “isolated incidents” where Saudi air strikes had breached international humanitarian law but no “pattern” of violations.

Since intervening in Yemen in 2015, Saudi Arabia has been the biggest importer of weapons worldwide, with the US accounting for about 75 percent of exports and the UK about 15 percent, according to the Stockholm Institute of Peace Research Institute. 

The ongoing conflict has displaced over four million Yemenis from their home and caused over 18,500 civilian casualties.