International trade secretary says UK should celebrate being global leader at DSEI event in London dogged by protests

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

The international trade secretary, Liam Fox, has mounted an unabashed defence of Britain’s arms industry on the opening day of one of the world’s biggest weapons trade exhibitions.



Ignoring the large-scale protests outside the Defence and Security Equipment International (DSEI) event at ExCel centre in the Docklands, east London, Fox hailed the UK arms export sector for its contribution to the country’s economy.

Britain is a global leader in defence and that should be celebrated, Fox said, with this year’s DSEI exhibition the biggest yet. “We must work to defend and promote the established defence industry,” he said.

The government will use the many tools at its disposal to make sure the arms industry, which had a turnover of £3bn in 2016, goes from strength to strength, Fox said.

The minister cited exports to the United Arab Emirates, eastern Europe and India. But he made no mention of the UK’s huge sales to countries such as Saudi Arabia, which has been conducting a sustained bombing campaign of Yemen.

Setting out a defence of the arms trade in moral as well as economic terms, Fox said: “Nations and peoples have an inalienable right to look after their own defence.

“Those who trade from advanced economies must remember that if we did not provide countries with the means of defending themselves, then we would see the proliferation of uncontrolled and unregulated arms sales free from oversight or inhibition.”



That state of affairs, he said, would be a disaster. “To allow such a situation to develop would be vastly irresponsible,” Fox said, arguing that the UK had a “robust” licensing system in place for arms sales.

DSEI, always a controversial event, has been dogged in its buildup by persistent protests attempting to prevent weapons companies from setting up their stands. More than 100 people were arrested in the week before the fair.