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The Government has broken a court ruling banning them from granting licences to export weapons and equipment to Saudi Arabia.

Trade Secretary Liz Truss has apologised, saying her department had “inadvertently” granted two licences in breach of a High Court ruling in June.

The Government believes more than £250,000 worth of radio spares had been shipped to troops deployed in the civil war in Yemen.

The original order was for almost half a million pounds worth of equipment, until officials stepped in and cancelled it.

A further licence identified by the department as being in breach of the ruling include a £200 cooling fan.

The letter also outlined details of a demonstration for Saudi officials of equipment to tackle roadside bombs, but this was not in breach of the court order.

A further licence, for £5,000 worth of radar components, has been revoked because officials concluded it “might be used in the conflict in Yemen.”

(Image: AFP/Getty Images)

In a letter to MP Graham Jones, chair of the Committees on Arms Export Controls, Ms Truss confirmed a probe would be launched into the illegal licences.

She wrote: "I am writing to tell you that the Government Legal Department has today informed the Court of Appeal of two inadvertent breaches of the undertaking given to the Court by the Secretary of State in the Order of the Court dated 20 June 2019, that we would not “grant any new licences for the export of arms or military equipment to Saudi Arabia for possible use in the conflict in Yemen”.

"I have apologised to the Court unreservedly for the error in granting these two licences."

Arms firms have to apply to the government for a licence to sell weapons and military equipment to foreign regimes.

The UK has licensed at least £5.3 billion worth of arms to Saudi Arabia since the war in Yemen began in March 2015.

These licences include £2.7 billion worth of aircraft, helicopters and drones - and a further £2.5 billion worth of grenades, bombs, missiles and countermeasures.

Despite the ban on selling to Saudi, representatives of the Kingdom were in London last week to attend a huge arms fair in London, at the invitation of the UK Government.

Andrew Smith of Campaign Against Arms Trade said: "We are always being told how rigorous and robust UK arms export controls supposedly are, but this shows that nothing could be further from the truth.

“If the Government cannot be trusted to follow its own rules, or an order from the Court of Appeal, then it must immediately end all arms exports to the Saudi regime and cease all support for this devastating war."

He added: “The reality is that, no matter how appalling the crisis in Yemen has become, the Government has always been far more concerned with arms company profits than it has with the rights and lives of Yemeni people.

“This disregard was on full show last week when the Saudi regime was in London buying weapons at the DSEI arms fair."

Labour's Shadow Trade Secretary Barry Gardiner called on Ms Truss to resign.

He said: "Yet again it appears there is one law for Conservative ministers and another for everyone else. The Tories have repeatedly claimed that we have the most robust licensing regime in the world. Now it is clear that they cannot even abide by the rulings of the Court of Appeal.

"The department has failed to conduct proper assessments and essential information is not being relayed between government departments.

"The people of the United Kingdom do not want to be complicit in fuelling the humanitarian crisis in Yemen and the Secretary of State must immediately suspend all arms sales to Saudi Arabia.

"Thousands of people have been killed in this war and it is staggering that the Trade Secretary thinks an apology will get her off the hook.

“Liz Truss must provide a full account of why her department failed so miserably. If she cannot control her department, obey the law and do what is morally right, she should resign."

A Department for International Trade spokesperson said: “We very much regret that the licences were issued in error. The International Trade Secretary commissioned a full and urgent investigation as soon as the breach was discovered.

“Throughout the investigation, all decisions made on export licences to Saudi Arabia and its Coalition partners will be subject to additional compliance checks, including closer collaboration between departments, so that no further licences are issued in error.

“We take our arms export control responsibilities very seriously and remain fully committed to complying with the Court Order.”

Note:

This article originally suggested the demonstration of equipment to tackle roadside bombs was in breach of the court order. In fact, it was not and was included in the Trade Secretary's letter for reasons of transparency. We are happy to correct the error.