Britain has sold £10billion of deadly weapons to some of the world’s most oppressive regimes since 2015.
The sales include warplanes, missiles, machine guns, sniper rifles, assault rifles, pistols, bullets, bombs and explosives.
Britain sold arms to 35 of 48 countries described as “not free” by respected human rights watchdog Freedom House.
Over £5billion of sales were to Saudi Arabia, including fighter jets, missiles, bombs and rifles, some of which were used in a brutal airstrike campaign against Houthi rebels in Yemen.
More than 100,000 people have been slaughtered in the country’s civil war since 2015, many of them killed by the Saudi air force.
Britain also sold arms to China, Egypt, Qatar, Turkey and Vietnam – all listed as “not free” by Freedom House – according to the Dept of International Trade arms statistics report for 2019.
Andrew Smith, from the Campaign Against Arms Trade, said: “The scale of arms sales is shocking.
"The UK should be promoting positive sectors and businesses, not exporting war, conflict and instability.
“UK-made weapons have played a central role in the bombardment of Yemen, which has killed tens of thousands of people and created the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
“These arms sales undermine the Government’s claims that it stands for human rights.
“By arming and supporting despots, dictatorships and human rights abusers, the UK government is making itself complicit in atrocities.
"For far too long, arms sales have been put ahead of human rights.”
A Government spokes-man insisted: “We operate one of the most robust export control systems in the world.”
