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Row intensifies over Saudi weapons sale

September 13, 2016 at 2:42 pm

A senior British MP has intensified the row over weapons sales to Saudi Arabia after proposing a completely new report on the issue whilst calling for the reorganisation of the committee which looks into British arms exports. Conservative MP Crispin Blunt has drafted his own report and is expected to ask fellow members of the Foreign Affairs Committee to endorse his findings at a meeting today.

The row erupted last week as two prominent MPs were accused of watering-down an earlier version of the report by the influential committee on arms export controls, which recommended halting arms sales to the Gulf State. It accused the kingdom of breaches of humanitarian and human rights law. At a private meeting, Blunt is said to have walked out to prevent some committee members from voting on the draft of which he was highly critical, reported the Guardian.

The Tory MP, who is also chair of the House of Commons Defence Select Committee, has suggested that the arms export control committee is too unwieldy and should be abandoned. A new committee under the Department for International Trade should, Blunt suggests, be put in its place to oversee the arms export remit.