Stop Arms Sales says MP                                                                                                              

Neil Gerrard, Labour MP for Walthamstow, is urging the Government to restrict arms sales to countries and regions of the world where conflict is brewing. Mr Gerrard is supporting a Commons motion which demands an end to the sales of F16 fighter aircraft to Israel, but says wider curbs are needed.

"I am very concerned that the Government has changed the rules on arms exports to allow parts for F16 fighters to be sold to Israel via the United States. This is a clear reversal of the policy the Government adopted in November 2000 not to sell arms which could be used in the occupied territories of the West Bank and Gaza."

"In addition last year millions of pounds worth of weapons were sold to India and Pakistan even as the crisis over Kashmir was developing. Arms licences have been granted for trade with former Soviet republics, with Turkey, Sri Lanka, and Indonesia."

"Growing British military exports threaten to fuel a whole series of conflicts around the world, and I believe we should be taker a much stricter line on arms exports."

July 2002

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