Arms And Military Equipment Sales

EDM number 460 in 2010-12, proposed by Caroline Lucas on 12/07/2010.
Categorised under the topic of Defence equipment and procurement.

That this House isshocked at the comment reportedly made in an interview publishedin The Times on 24 June 2010 by the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence responsible for military equipment that `There will be a very, very, very heavy ministerial commitment to the process of defence exports. There's a sense that in the past we were rather embarrassed about exporting defence products. There's no such embarrassment in this Government'; recalls that the previous Conservative government had covertly sold dual-use military equipment to Iraq under Saddam Hussein's regime, as was made explicitly clear in the report into such allegations by Lord Justice Scott; notes that despite the previous Labour government entering office in 1997 with a pledge to include an ethical element in its foreign policy, military equipment was nonetheless licensed for export by Labour Ministers to both Israel and Indonesia which was subsequently used for offensive action against civilians despite pledges by the purchaser governments that they would not do so; believes the export and economic rationale given by the Ministry of Defence to justify military equipment exports is demonstrably false; recognises that only 0.2 per cent. of the nation's workforce is employed in military export jobs and that military equipment comprises just 1.5 per cent. of total UK exports; and calls for a complete overhaul of security policy to replace military sales with diplomatic collaboration to enhance genuine sustainable security.

This motion has been signed by a total of 19 MPs.