Silence over troops in Saudi Arabia defended
Parliament told in report: minister
BRITAIN’S armed forces minister has stood by a decision to stay silent about the deployment of air defence troops to protect Saudi Arabian oil fields.
Gunners from 16 Regiment Royal Artillery, based at Thorney Island, have been on a mission in the oil-rich Middle East country since February.
The small contingent of soldiers deployed to the Saudi capital of Riyadh where they are manning Giraffe radars, scanning the skies for potential aerial attack.
It comes after more than a dozen Saudi oil facilities were blasted during a swarm drone attack in September 2019.
The deployment has so far cost the UK taxpayer more than £840,000 – but there was no official statement made in parliament.
The move was slammed by shadow armed forces minister, Stephen Morgan, who said it flew in the face of parliamentary transparency.
But now Mr Morgan’s opposite number in the Conservative Party, James Heappey, has defended the decision.
In a written parliamentary response to Mr Morgan, the armed forces minister said: ‘The Ministry of Defence made parliament aware of this small deployment to Saudi Arabia via its annual report and has then answered subsequent parliamentary questions.
‘The MoD is committed to ensuring that parliament is kept informed of significant major operations and deployments of the armed forces, but does not provide advance notice to parliament of every UK military deployment given the sheer number and variety of deployments, including for exercising and training purposes.’
The only official mention of a deployment to Saudi Arabia was buried within the MoD’s 220-page annual report for 2019/20.
It said: ‘The deployment of Giraffe radars to Riyadh in February 2020 will help Saudi Arabia better track and identify objects in its airspace.’
Speaking previously to The News, Mr Morgan demanded ‘urgent clarity’ from ministers about the mission.
The Portsmouth South MP said: ‘This is a serious issue of parliamentary transparency and scrutiny.
‘Government must do better and I will be urgently seeking further clarity on this.’
The Ministry of Defence insisted the operation was a ‘time-limited and small deployment’ but declined to comment on exact timescales and troop numbers.