Yemen — House of Commons, 2020-09-24
Topic: International Affairs
Alyn Edward Smith (Scottish National Party, Centre-left): I too congratulate the hon. Member for East Worthing and Shoreham (Tim Loughton) on bringing forward the debate, and I pay tribute to him for his long-standing and committed interest in the region, along with a number of other colleagues. It is right that we should discuss Yemen today. It is difficult to imagine how any more tragedies could befall that poor benighted country I hope that in the short time I have been a Member of this House, I have proven that I am naturally bipartisan and consensual in my politics. I believe we solve most problems on the centre ground, and that is where we need to meet to find solutions. I am not in the business of pretending that there is difference where there is none in our approach. In that spirit, on Yemen, we on the SNP Benches fundamentally disagree with the actions of the UK Government It is dangerous, of course, to view any international affairs or foreign affairs matter in black and white terms, and Yemen more than most, but there is a fundamental dichotomy in the UK’s approach to Yemen. We have heard that the UK is the third biggest humanitarian donor. I pay tribute to that and praise it. We have also heard that the UK has committed considerable diplomatic resource to try to find a peace in the region. I acknowledge and pay tribute to that as well. But those actions, praiseworthy as they are, are completely overshadowed by the role of the UK as a supplier of arms for the continuation of that conflict. I am not naive—the reality is that the UK has chosen a side in the conflict, and therefore cannot claim clean hands in the promotion of peace It is not just the UK, and I acknowledge that this is a complicated region, but these are not just my concerns. I refer the House to the UN Human Rights Council report from 14 September, which says, in paragraph 25: "Notwithstanding the strong recommendations by the Group of Experts in its previous reports, third States, including Canada, France, the Islamic Republic of Iran, the United Kingdom…and the United States of America, continued their support of parties to the conflict including through arms transfers, thereby helping to perpetuate the conflict." I am not a pacifist. We on the SNP Benches are not pacifists, and we are not naive. We are not against arms exports. But in that spirit, it is incumbent on the Government to acknowledge that there are grave and legitimate doubts over the legality and morality of continuing arms exports to the Saudi regime for use in Yemen. Other countries have embargoes in place and I strongly urge the UK to follow suit; however, that plea may fall on deaf ears I urge the UK to go further. The arms export regime we have in this state is not sufficiently robust or transparent. The SNP would take that responsibility away from the Department for International Trade and give it to a bipartisan committee of this House to ensure greater transparency and, indeed, a hope for consensus on where the UK’s arms go We may disagree on that effort, but I will end with a plea on which perhaps we can see more progress. In Yemen, winter is coming, and on 15 September Mark Lowcock, the UN Under-Secretary-General for humanitarian affairs, reported to the UN Security Council that the UN’s appeals have received barely 30% of the funding necessary to alleviate the famine for 9 million people. If the United Kingdom Government will not change tack on arms exports, perhaps the Minister, who I have much respect for and who I believe has a nuanced approach to this, could commit to at least alleviating the problems that our foreign policy is causing.