Britain is now issuing arms licences to Saudi Arabia at a record average of almost one a day.
International Trade Secretary Liz Truss is making up for lost time after sales of our weaponry used to blow up children were suspended for a year following legal action by the Campaign Against the Arms Trade (CAAT).
And the end of an Appeal Court ban is good news for the Saudi dictatorship.
It already uses 72 of our Eurofighter Typhoons and 81 Tornados along with Paveway bombs and Brimstone and Storm Shadow missiles to batter neighbouring Yemen in a five-year conflict that has killed 100,000 people, including 12,000 civilians.
Andrew Smith of CAAT said: “This war was only possible because of military support provided by Britain and other governments.
“By arming the brutal Saudi dictatorship the UK is making itself complicit in the atrocities and abuses inflicted on Yemen. A return to business as usual will only increase the suffering.”
Official figures released last week show 87 export licences were granted between June 20, 2019 and last month.
But for 11 of those months only 19 licences for £15million of defensive military equipment such as body armour and navigation systems were allowed.
So most of the weapons were sold in just 12 weeks. Details will be released on Tuesday. Ms Truss told MPs: “The Government will begin clearing the backlog of licence applications that has built up.”
Britain has sold £5.4billion of arms to the Saudis who now have twice as many UK-made warplanes as the RAF.
At least 25 Saudi Eurofighter pilots were trained here. Two million Yemeni children are going hungry in the bitter war, with 325,000 suffering severe malnutrition.
The country is now struggling to cope with a cholera outbreak and Covid-19.
The Appeal Court ordered a temporary ban on arms sales while a Government review went on, determining that breaches of international humanitarian law were “isolated incidents”.
While the Government is happy to supply weapons to the Saudi regime, it has imposed sanctions on 20 Saudis whose Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was linked to the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi two years ago.
Saudi is leading a military coalition against Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen and is the biggest single buyer of our arms.
Industry estimates claim that around 55,000 UK jobs rely on the trade.
