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Defence Secretary Michael Fallon has told MPs to stop criticising Saudi Arabia so we can sell them more weapons.

He told MPs criticism of the regime's brutal bombardment of Yemen is "unhelpful" while Britain is trying to finalise a deal with BAE Systems to sell the Kingdom a further batch of Eurofighter jets.

Labour said his comments were "extremely concerning".

The UK has licensed almost $4 billion worth of arms to the Kingdom since the Saudi-led bombing of Yemen started in 2015.

Both the UN and Human Rights Watch have said the intervention is in breach of international law.

(Image: AFP)

But the Defence Secretary told a committee of MPs today that criticism of Saudi Arabia while Britain is trying to sell them even more fighter jets is "unhelpful."

He told the Defence Select Committee: “We’ve been working extremely hard on the batch two deal. I’ve travelled to Saudi Arabia back in September and discussed progress on the deal with my opposite number, the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia – and we continued to press for a signature or at least a statement of intent as we’ve done with Qatar.

"I have to repeat sadly, to this committee, that obviously other criticism of Saudi Arabia, in this Parliament, is not helpful and ...I’ll leave it there, but we need to do everything possible to encourage Saudi Arabia towards batch two. I believe they will commit to batch two and we need to work away on the timing.”

(Image: PA)

Labour's Shadow Foreign Secretary Emily Thornberry said: "These comments are extremely concerning. The sale of arms should never be prioritised over human rights, the Rule of Law and the lives of innocent children in Yemen."

Lib Dem Deputy Leader Jo Swinson said: “There is no justification for the UK to continue selling billions of pounds worth of weapons to Saudi Arabia while they continue their deadly operation in Yemen. We must suspend arms sales to Saudi immediately.



“This is a conflict which has killed thousands of civilians and subjected millions to famine and disease.

“Britain is better than this, we should stand firm for our values, not sell them to the highest bidder.”

Andrew Smith of Campaign Against Arms Trade branded Fallon's comments "disgraceful".

He added: "He is calling on other parliamentarians to join him in putting arms sales ahead of human rights, democracy and international humanitarian law.

"The Saudi regime has one of the most appalling human rights records in the world, and has inflicted a terrible humanitarian catastrophe on Yemen. Fallon should be doing all he can to stop the bloodshed and end UK complicity in the suffering, not urging his colleagues to willingly ignore the abuses in order to sell even more weapons."