THERESA May has refused to stop British firms selling weapons to Saudi Arabia, despite the “kidnapping, killing and mutilation of the respected Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi”.
Raising the issue at Prime Minister’s Questions, the SNP’s Westminster leader Ian Blackford said it was increasingly clear that the murder of the Washington Post journalist had “all the hallmarks of being a premeditated murder” signed off by the Saudi authorities.
He asked May to follow Angela Merkel’s lead and “commit to ending the sale of arms to Saudi Arabia”. The Tory leader said her government had “made it clear that Saudi Arabia must co-operate with Turkey and conduct a full and credible investigation”.
Blackford said condemning the attack was not enough, and that action was required.
“The Saudi Arabian regime is responsible for multiple human rights violations: critics face death by crucifixion; teenagers are tortured; and women are imprisoned for campaigning for their human rights.
"The bombardment of Yemen is pushing that country to the brink of famine, and now we have the state-sponsored murder of Khashoggi.
“What more evidence of criminality does the Prime Minister need before she fully commits to ending the sale of arms to the brutal regime in Saudi Arabia?”
May defended the arms sales by telling the SNP chief that the UK was “actually the third largest humanitarian donor to Yemen”.
She said the UK government continued to support the “Saudi-led coalition’s military intervention in Yemen” as it had been “recognised by the United Nations Security Council and came at the request of the legitimate President Hadi”.
Meanwhile, Blackford was accused of “rank hypocrisy” over the question, by the Scottish Greens.
Ross Greer said the SNP Government was “only too happy to throw cash at” firms which help construct deadly weapons used in the brutal war.
Figures released earlier this year showed that Raytheon – which is involved in making missiles
linked to civilian deaths in Yemen – has been handed £185,625 of Scottish Government cash since 2014.
Greer said: “It is rank hypocrisy for the SNP to ask Theresa May to stop selling these weapons when many of them are made here in Scotland by companies the SNP Scottish Government is only too happy to throw cash at”.
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