The government has decided to permit the export of arms to Chile, reversing a decision by the Labour government to ban arms sales to the regime of General Pinochet, who seized power from an elected government in a right-wing coup.

Mr Nicholas Ridley, Foreign Office Minister, told Parliament yesterday: "Henceforth, applications for the supply of defence equipment to Chile will be treated in the normal way."

Officials were quick to point out yesterday that export licences for the sale of weapons which could be used to suppress internal disorder were not normally granted. The officials could not say whether this meant an embargo on the sale of small arms, tear-gas, and helicopter gunships.

But they said the main countries to which British exporters would still not sell arms had now been reduced to South Africa, Iran, Albania, Mongolia, Vietnam, and North Korea, as well as members of the Warsaw Pact. The same sources said the Government did not know what the Chileans wanted.

Labour MPs will today try to question ministers about the decision. They are angry at the way in which a written answer was slipped out on the day that the unemployment figures were announced.

The Shadow Foreign Secretary, Mr Peter Shore, said that to supply arms to the Chilean junta, which has been condemned for its abuses of human rights, is "the more reprehensible now that the junta has made clear its intentions to bar any move towards the restoration of democratic rights for at least a decade."

Mr Jerry Hughes, secretary of the Chile Solidarity Campaign, said that the government's decision contradicted its stated policy on arms sales to repressive regimes and its stance on human rights.

Mr Richard Barbor-Might, of Amnesty International, said that in view of the return of the British ambassador to Chile, the government's decision amounted to an endorsement of the regime and a mark of diplomatic favour.

Mr Barbor-Might said that an estimated 1,500 people had disappeared in Chile since the coup.