Arms Exports To Developing Countries

EDM number 679 in 2003-04, proposed by John Battle on 25/02/2004.

That this House notes that good progress has been made in the last decade on a United Kingdom arms exports policy that balances a country's legitimate right to self-defence with a moral duty to ensure that British arms are not used to harm innocent civilians; further notes, though, there is still more that can be done to promote a more effective and a more responsible policy that takes into account British interests and also those of the recipient country; recognises that the Export Credit Guarantee Department (ECGD) subsidised insurance cover for arms sales, and encourages both arms companies and recipient countries to pursue arms sales that may not otherwise be economically viable and which can negatively impact on the sustainable development of the recipient countries; welcomes the Government's productive expenditure criteria for ECGD cover to Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC countries) and believes that an extension of these productive expenditure criteria for arms sales from just the HIPC countries to all International Development Association (IDA) countries would dissuade recipient countries from taking on unsustainable debt and so provide them with more resources to tackle poverty; and therefore calls on the Government to extend the ECGD productive expenditure criteria for arms sales from just the HIPC countries to all IDA countries.

This motion has been signed by a total of 112 MPs, 2 of these signatures have been withdrawn.