Surge in credit card transactions

Credit card debts surged at the fastest annual rate in 12 years in February, figures from a trade association show.

Figures from UK Finance show annual growth of 8.3 per cent in the amounts of credit outstanding – the highest figure since 2006 and 220m transactions, made more convenient by contactless. ACTRESS JOELY Richardson has called on Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson to suspend arms sales to Saudi Arabia because they are being used to bomb civilians including children in Yemen .

Marking the third anniversary of the escalation of the Yemen conflict, Save The Children ambassadors Richardson and TV presenter Natasha Kaplinsky signed a 60,000-strong petition which is being handed to the Foreign Office

It calls on the Government to immediately suspend arms sales to Saudi Arabia and ensure unfettered humanitarian access to children in Yemen.

British arms sales to Saudi Arabia have come under the spotlight because the kingdom is leading a coalition which is backing the Yemeni government in a war with Houthi rebels.

Save The Children said there have been more than 15,000 air strikes and 1,600 children have been killed, more than half in air strikes by the Saudi-led coalition, since the beginning of the war.

Richardson said: “Children should never be the victims of war, and they should be protected, and we shouldn’t be selling arms towards anyone that would bomb children and civilians.”

Asked what her message to Mr Johnson would be, she said: “Save the children of Yemen.”

She added: “There are 17m people who are being starved ... famine, cholera, the air strikes.”

The UK has sold £4.6bn of arms to Saudi Arabia since air strikes in Yemen began, according to the Campaign Against Arms Trade.