Arms Sales to Saudi Arabia Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office
Kevin Hollinrake
Main Page: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)Department Debates - View all Kevin Hollinrake's debates with the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office
(8 years, 3 months ago)
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Mr Ellwood
I am sorry to hear that the position of the Scottish nationalists is that they are willing to take what they hear in the media and turn it into British foreign policy. That is incorrect. We need to work on evidence. I am pleased to see my hon. Friend the Minister for Defence Procurement in his place. As he has confirmed, there are many cases in which the Ministry of Defence and I choose to refuse the continuation or start of a licence because we believe that the situation has changed. We do that based on evidence when we know the facts. We do not have a knee-jerk reaction and only later realise whether we were wrong or right.
Kevin Hollinrake (Thirsk and Malton) (Con)
Will the Minister confirm the presence and strength of militant organisations such as al-Qaeda and Daesh in Yemen?
Mr Ellwood
My hon. Friend raises an important point that shows the complexity of this situation. Very sadly, the governor of Aden was killed, not by the Houthis, but by Daesh, which is developing a presence in Yemen. As we know, extremists take advantage of a vacuum of governance. The port of Mukalla, which is further down the east coast, is entirely run by al-Qaeda. That shows that the extremists are based there. Al-Qaeda in Yemen are the ones who were allegedly responsible for the Charlie Hebdo attack, the print bombing attack and the underpants bombing attack. They are exactly who we are trying to defeat, but they are embedding themselves in a country where governance is missing.