A parliamentary inquiry into British arms sales to Saudi Arabia has ended with MPs divided over whether exports should be allowed to continue amid claims the weapons are being in breach of international humanitarian law, a committee claiming leaks "undermined any possibility" of agreement, and an MP demanding private investigators be called in.

In a report published on Thursday, MPs on the international development committee and the business, innovation and skills committee said no new arms export licences should be issued until the allegations have been fully investigated.

But in a highly unusual move, MPs on the foreign affairs committee issued a separate version of the report that omitted the call for exports to be stopped and said instead that the high court should decide whether the sales are legal.

All three bodies are part of the Committees on Arms Export Control (CAEC), which has been conducting an inquiry into arms sales following criticism that the Saudi-led coalition's bombing campaign in Yemen was targeting civilians, in breach of international humanitarian law.

A fourth committee, the defence committee, is also a part of CAEC and did not endorse either report. In a statement Julian Lewis, the committee's chair, said: "A report was drafted without the customary process of circulating themes, conclusions and recommendations in advance. Instead, a draft report was produced which was then leaked. The leaking of that draft report and the subsequent media controversy about the Committees’ deliberations fatally undermined any possibility of the four Committees coming to an agreed position."

Both reports agreed that the possible use of British weapons in humanitarian abuses by the the Saudi-led coalition should be investigated by an international inquiry.



In the 12 months since the campaign began, the UK has licensed £3.3 billion worth of arms to Saudi Arabia, including aircraft, helicopters, drones, bombs, and missiles. The kingdom is BAE Systems' third-largest market, with sales including Typhoon and Tornado combat aircraft.



There have been concerns raised by campaigners, the cross-party MPs committee on international development, and the UN over the number of civilians killed by the bombing. Parliament has noted that the situation is deteriorating because of "atrocities" carried out by both sides in the conflict.

However, parliament has been unable to reach a conclusion and as a result CAEC, a so-called "super-committee", has divided. According to Newsnight, which had seen a draft copy of the report, the initial CAEC report was expected to say "the weight of evidence of violations of international humanitarian law (IHL) by the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen is now so great that it is very difficult to continue to support Saudi Arabia while maintaining the credibility of our arms licensing regime.”

However, the programme then revealed that there was turmoil on the committee, with two MPs – Crispin Blunt and John Spellar – lobbying to water down concerns over the legality of Saudi Arabia's actions.

This lead to Blunt calling in parliament for private investigators to look into the source of the leaks. He told Speaker John Bercow the leaks amounted "to a prima facie case of a deliberate campaign to influence a select committee reliant on in-confidence information provided by a member of this House or their staff." Blunt is the chair of the foreign affairs committee, which has produced a far less damning conclusion with regard to the legality of the sales.