Human Rights and Arms Sales to Saudi Arabia
Debate between Nick Thomas-Symonds and Margaret Ferrier(8 years, 6 months ago)
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Margaret Ferrier
I thank the right hon. Gentleman for his intervention and for his knowledge on the matter.
We should also take a tougher stance on Saudi’s foreign policy. As one of Saudi Arabia’s major trading partners—we sell billions of pounds of weapons to Saudi each year—the UK should be bolder in its approach.
Nick Thomas-Symonds (Torfaen) (Lab)
I congratulate the hon. Lady on securing the debate. Is she as concerned as I am about the recent report by the United Nations called “Children and Armed Conflict”, which set out the escalating position in Yemen, including the increasing number of casualties among children, for which responsibility is ascribed to the Saudi-led regime? Is that not something that our Government need to take extremely seriously?
Margaret Ferrier
I will come on to that point later. The UN and others have brought out an extremely important document, and the Government need to take such things seriously.