Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, if he will respond to the open letter from civil society groups entitled UK Government’s Refusal to Suspend Arms Transfers to Israel, published on 28 February 2024.

The Government operates a robust and thorough assessment of licence applications against the Strategic Export Licensing Criteria and we will not grant an export licence if to do so would be inconsistent with that Criteria including where there is a clear risk that the items might be used to commit or facilitate a serious violation of International Humanitarian Law.

We are monitoring the situation in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories very closely. All our export licences are kept under careful review, and we are able to amend, suspend or revoke extant licences, as well as refuse new licence applications, if they are found to be inconsistent with the Criteria.