Sunday Mail (UK)

Serving up a £2 charge

- Dunne and, top, Hammond

Restaurant bosses are charging diners an extra £ 2 if they leave food on their plate.

Sirkars restaurant in Middlesbro­ugh, who serve an “all you can eat” buffet for £12.99, say the policy was introduced to avoid food being wasted.

The restaurant, who serve Asian, Italian and English cuisine, also operate a 90- minute time limit on buffet customers.

The company also had six meetings with the Prime Minister’s office lasting 10 hours.

Raytheon met with Hammond last September before he was appointed as Chancellor.

Whi le foreign s e c r e t a r y, he refused to suspend arms sales to the Saudis despite pleas by groups such as Huma n R i g ht s Watch, Amnesty Internatio­nal and Save the Children.

Tor y MP Ma rk Lancaster was treated to a Burns supper in January. Raytheon also wined and dined MP Philip Dunne when he was mini s ter for defence procuremen­t.

During 26 of the 57 meetings Raytheon had with the Government, officials from the Defence and Security Organisati­on – who promote arms exports – were present.

CAAT say three senior MoD officials have worked for Raytheon.

The campaign group’s Andrew Smith said: “Raytheon are complicit in the destructio­n of Yemen, yet they enjoy the support of the machinery of government. They as have direct access to government miniminist­ers and civil servants and are in a powerful position to influence policy.”

Green MSP Ross Greer said: “It looks like Raytheon have their own desk at the defence department, given how closely involved they are.

“The relationsh­ip between this UK Government department and a maker of lethal weapons has clearly oversteppe­d the mark.

“It all underlines the need to keep up the pressure and end the arms trade.”

Last year, the UK Government approved more than £ 3billion of arms sales to the Saudis.

The Sunday Mail revealed in August that a code on bomb fragments found at the scene of an alleged war crime in Yemen was linked to Raytheon.

Earlier this year, the UN said there had been 110 “clear violations of internatio­nal law by the Saudi- led coal ition”,

 ??  ?? MEETING CAMPAIGN LUCKY TO BE ALIVE A boy sits on rubble after a house was destroyed by an airstrike in Sanaa, Yemen Pic Reuters
MEETING CAMPAIGN LUCKY TO BE ALIVE A boy sits on rubble after a house was destroyed by an airstrike in Sanaa, Yemen Pic Reuters

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