Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh and Wendy Morton

Monday 13th March 2017 Commons Chamber

[Wendy Morton (Aldridge-Brownhills) (Con)]

7. What recent assessment he has made of progress in the international campaign to tackle Daesh.

[Ms Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh (Ochil and South Perthshire) (SNP)]

14. What recent progress has been made on the international campaign against Daesh.

Yemen

Debate between Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh and Wendy Morton

Wednesday 26th October 2016 Commons Chamber

[Ms Ahmed-Sheikh]

In a moment.

Amnesty found a partially exploded UK-manufactured BL755 cluster bomb munition—we discussed this in an urgent question—that had been used by the Saudi-led coalition forces. BL755 cluster munitions are known only to be in the existing stockpiles of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, and are specifically designed for use by UK-supplied Tornado aircraft.

[Wendy Morton (Aldridge-Brownhills) (Con)]

Will the hon. Lady give way?

[Ms Ahmed-Sheikh]

I just want to finish my point about the report.

Cluster bombs are an illegal weapon banned under international law since 2008, and the UK is a state party to the 2008 convention on cluster munitions.

So what does this mean for the UK? A legal opinion prepared by Matrix Chambers in December last year detailed how UK arms transfers to Saudi Arabia constitute a clear violation of our national, regional and international arms transfer obligations.

[Wendy Morton]

Does the hon. Lady accept that the final delivery of BL755 cluster munitions to Saudi Arabia was in 1989—almost 30 years ago?

[Ms Ahmed-Sheikh]

I thank the hon. Lady for that point, which was made during the urgent question. There is absolutely no definitive position on this, nor can any guarantee be given that these weapons are not being used. The question has been asked on a number of occasions.