BICOM

The Court of Appeal ruled on Thursday that the Government’s licences for arms sales to Saudi Arabia are unlawful and should be reviewed.

Current UK export policy says military equipment licences should not be granted if there is a “clear risk” that weapons might be used in a “serious violation of international humanitarian law”.

Delivering the judgment at the Court of Appeal, the three judges said that a decision made in secret in 2016 had led them to conclude that Boris Johnson, Jeremy Hunt and Liam Fox and other key ministers had illegally signed off on arms exports to Saudi Arabia without properly assessing the risk to civilians.

Master of the Rolls Sir Terence Etherton said the government: “Made no concluded assessments of whether the Saudi-led coalition had committed violations of international humanitarian law in the past, during the Yemen conflict, and made no attempt to do so.”

As a result, the court said that the UK export licensing process was “wrong in law in one significant respect” and ordered Fox, the international trade secretary, to immediately review £4.7bn worth of arms deals with Saudi Arabia. Equipment sold that is now under review includes Typhoon and Tornado fighter jets, as well as precision-guided bombs such as the Paveway, Brimstone and Storm Shadow.

Fox made an urgent House of Commons statement and argued that the court had not determined whether it was ethical to sell arms to Saudi Arabia, but was concerned with “the rationality of the process used to reach decisions”. He said he would suspend new arms sales to Saudi Arabia whilst appealing against the verdict. Labour has called for a full parliamentary or public inquiry into arms sales to Saudi Arabia.

The Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT), which brought the case against the Government, said: “No matter what atrocities it has inflicted, the Saudi regime has been able to count on the uncritical political and military support of the UK.”

The US Senate yesterday passed three resolutions to block the sale of weapons to Saudi Arabia. Last month President Donald Trump bypassed Congress in an attempt to push through the $8bn (£6bn) deal, citing threats to Saudi Arabia from Iran. The President had promised to veto the action. While the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives is also likely to vote to block the sale, analysts predict that Congress will not have the necessary votes to override a Presidential veto.