EXPLOSIVE DEALS
How the UK government makes billions trading bombs overseas
MORE than £3.5 million worth of bombs and other explosives are being sold overseas every day by the British government.
New analysis of figures from the Department for International Trade show the UK sold £1.3 billion worth of bombs, torpedos, rockets and missiles in 2017.
Saudi Arabia was by far the biggest buyer, accounting for £837.6 million of the total sales, or 64 per cent.
That is despite rising concern over Saudi military intervention in the Yemeni civil war - dubbed “one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world” by anti-arms trade groups. Just last month, armed sales watchdog the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network warned arms and ammunition supplied to Saudi Arabia were being “diverted” to third-party proxy fighters, including terror groups. The Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) has also won permission from the Court of Appeal to challenge the legality of exporting arms to Saudi Arabia for use in Yemen. The figures show the UK government sold a further £224.0 million of bombs and explosives to India. It means that between them, Saudi Arabia and India account for more than 80 per cent of UK explosives sales.
France, which is the third biggest buyer, bought just £41.3 million of bombs and explosives from the UK in 2017.
Indonesia spent £37.0 million, and Malaysia £29.5 million.
Turkey bought £19.3 million, Afghanistan £19.1 million and the USA £18.2 million.
The £1.3 billion worth of bombs and explosives sold by the UK in 2017 made up nearly one quarter of the country’s total £5.6 billion military arms and weapons sales.
A Department for International Trade spokesperson said :“The UK government takes its export control responsibilities very seriously and operates one of the most robust export control regimes in the world.
“We rigorously examine every application on a case-by-case basis against the Consolidated EU and National Arms Export Licensing Criteria.
“We will not license the export of items where we assess that there is a clear risk that they might be used in the commission of a serious violation of international humanitarian law or international human rights law.”
A spokesperson for CAAT said: “For decades now, the UK has armed and supported human rights abusing regimes and dictatorships across the world.
“We are always told that these arms sales are done to make us safer, but nothing could be further from the truth.
War and instability affects all of us. The only ones benefiting from it are the arms companies.
“UK fighter jets are flying overhead and UK bombs and missiles are being fired from the sky. It has created one of the worst humanitarian crises in the
world. “The UK isn’t just selling the Saudi regime arms, it has offered an uncritical political support to the destruction. “When arms are sold we don’t know how they will be used or who they will be used against. The arms sales that the government is supporting today could be used in human rights abuses for years to come.”