SNP MPs have joined calls with more than 50 MPs for the UK Government to issue a full arms embargo on Israel.
A total of 57 MPs have written to Foreign Secretary David Lammy and Business and Trade Secretary Jonathan Reynolds, calling on the Labour Government to explain why arms exports to Israel have increased since it suspended 30 out of around 350 licences last September.
The letter, which was penned by Steve Witherden, Labour MP for Montgomeryshire and Glyndŵr, also raises concerns about a lack of transparency on the licencing of arms exports.
The letter states: "We are writing once again to call for a full arms embargo on Israel and request greater transparency from the Government regarding the UK's arms exports and military licensing."
The letter points towards figures published by The National which showed that Labour licensed exports of more military equipment to Israel in the final three months of 2024 than the Tories did for all of 2020-2023.
The signatories to the letter said "further urgent questions" must be raised on the UK Government's continued licensing of arms exports.
The letter asks: "Why is the UK continuing such co-production with a state that the Government has acknowledged is not committed to complying with international humanitarian law?
"Why did the value of licences for co-production with Israel increase so significantly following the arms suspension?"
The letter also asks what message such a surge in licensing "sends to Israel."
It goes on to consider the continued export of F-35 parts, which have been documented being used by Israel in Gaza.
The Labour Government has repeatedly claimed that it is not sending F-35 parts directly to Israel, however the UK is still contributing components through an international pool.
Despite this, the Foreign Secretary insisted earlier on Tuesday that he was "satisfied that we are not sending arms that could be used in Gaza".
The letter further calls on the UK Government to take steps to improve transparency on arms licences.
All nine SNP MPs have signed the letter, as well as a number of current Labour MPs, Green parliamentarians and a host of independent MPs including Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana.
Other signatories include the four Labour MPs who who recently lost the whip for "repeated breaches of discipline" – Brian Leishman, Rachael Maskell, Chris Hinchliff and Neil Duncan-Jordan – as well as Diane Abbott, who was recently suspended pending an investigation into comments she made on racism.
The full list of signatories is:
- Rt Hon. Diane Abbott MP
- Shockat Adam MP
- Paula Barker MP
- Apsana Begum MP
- Siân Berry MP
- Kirsty Blackman MP
- Olivia Blake MP
- Baroness Christine Blower
- Baroness Pauline Christina Bryan of Partick
- Richard Burgon MP
- Ian Byrne MP
- Ellie Chowns MP
- Rt Hon. Jeremy Corbyn MP
- Ann Davies MP
- Carla Denyer MP
- Dave Doogan MP
- Neil Duncan-Jordan MP
- Sorcha Eastwood MP
- Cat Eccles MP
- Rt Hon. Stephen Flynn MP
- Mary Kelly Foy MP
- Andrew George MP
- Stephen Gethins MP
- Lord John Hendy KC
- Chris Hinchliff MP
- Imran Hussain MP
- Adnan Hussain MP
- Kim Johnson MP
- Ayoub Khan MP
- Ben Lake MP
- Peter Lamb MP
- Ian Lavery MP
- Chris Law MP
- Graham Leadbitter MP
- Brian Leishman MP
- Clive Lewis MP
- Seamus Logan MP
- Rachael Maskell MP
- Andy McDonald MP
- Rt Hon. John McDonnell MP
- Llinos Medi MP
- Baroness Nosheena Mobarik
- Iqbal Mohamed MP
- Grahame Morris MP
- Yasmin Qureshi MP
- Adrian Ramsay MP
- Bell Ribeiro-Addy MP
- Liz Saville-Roberts MP
- Zarah Sultana MP
- Jon Trickett MP
- Brendan O’Hara MP
- Dr Simon Opher MP
- Kate Osborne MP
- Lord Prem Sikka
- Nadia Whittome MP
- Pete Wishart MP
- Steve Witherden MP
The National understands that the UK Government will respond to the letter in due course.
A UK Government spokesperson said: "As we set out to Parliament in September, we suspended certain export licences to Israel for items used in military operations in Gaza and our latest data shows we have continued to refuse all licences for military goods that could be used by Israel in the current conflict.
“It is not currently possible to suspend licensing of F-35 components for use by Israel without prejudicing the entire global programme, which would have serious implications for international peace and security due to its crucial strategic role in the defence of NATO and other UK allies.”
