Business secretary says five export licences were approved for chemicals that can be used to make sarin from 2004 to 2010

This article is more than 7 years old

This article is more than 7 years old

British officials approved the export to Syria of more chemicals that could be used to make sarin, a powerful nerve agent, than previously acknowledged, it has been revealed.

Five export licences were approved for the sale of more than 4,000kg of sodium fluoride between 2004 and 2010. They were on top of exports approved last year of sodium fluoride and potassium fluoride under licences but subsequently revoked on the grounds they could be used as precursor chemicals in the manufacture of weapons.

The five licences were revealed by Vince Cable, the business secretary, in a letter to Sir Robert Stanley, chairman of the Commons committee on export controls.

Cable told Stanley in a letter released on Wednesday: "These licences all pre-date the conflict in Syria. They were issued to two UK exporters for dispatch to two Syrian companies."

He added: "I am confident that each application was properly assessed to determine end use and that the exports were for legitimate commercial purposes, namely cosmetics and healthcare products. The volumes of sodium fluoride covered by these licences are consistent with commercial use."

Cable said there was no evidence that chemicals exported from the UK had been deployed in Syrian weapons programmes.

Stanley has now asked Cable to disclose the names of the British companies that exported, and the Syrian companies that imported, the chemicals.

He has also asked the business secretary to provide full details of the cosmetics and healthcare products "for which the sodium fluoride exported under these licences was apparently going to be used in Syria".

Stanley last week asked Cable to explain why the government approved export licences previously acknowledged in light of the statement by William Hague, the foreign secretary, to the Commons committees that the government would not issue export licences "which might be used to facilitate internal repression".

He asked Cable to explain why ministers had given contradictory statements about when or whether the chemicals had been shipped to Syria.