UK second biggest arms dealer in the world, thanks to Middle East

Arms sales to the Middle East have made Britain the world’s second biggest weapons’ dealer, official government figures show.

The Independent newspaper reported that two-thirds of the weapons sold by the UK since 2010 went to Middle Eastern countries, including to countries which the UK has placed on its human rights watch list.

“The UK is one of the world’s most successful defence exporters, averaging second place in the global rankings on a rolling ten-year basis, making it Europe’s leading defence exporter in the period,” UK Trade and Investment, a government body that promotes British exports abroad, said.

UK Prime Minister Teresa May has recently raised concerns over Saudi Arabia’s human rights abuses in its war on Yemen. Speaking to officials from the oil rich kingdom on the sidelines of the G20 summit, May is said to have broached the subject during bilateral meetings in China.

This comes as there are renewed calls for the UK to ban arms sales to Saudi as a result of the use of the weapons in creating a humanitarian crisis in Yemen.

An all-party select committee on arms exports controls is due to meet later this week and it is expected to be critical of British-Saudi arms trade deals and to push for the UK government to suspend its multibillion-pound arms sales to the Gulf state.