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Arms Export Controls

We all want to hear the Minister, and there will be plenty of time for interventions. There are other hon. Members and right hon. Members who wish to speak, so I will move on to one or two final topics before I sit down. For many years, the Committees have expressed concern about the export of arms to Israel that might be used in the occupied Palestinian territories. That subject took up a large part of the evidence-taking session that we had in January with the Minister, and a more recent evidence-taking session with a number of NGOs and defence manufacturers. Given recent events in Gaza, it is hardly surprising that a number of hon. Members might wish to raise that matter this afternoon. For some time, Government policy has been that export licences for arms exports to Israel should be refused if there is a risk of the items being deployed aggressively in the occupied territories. Such licences are judged on a case-by-case basis, but the Government have made it clear that arms export licences will be granted to Israel only if there is no significant risk of their being used aggressively in the occupied territories. In 2002, the Government announced their policy on incorporation, which the Committees felt was a breach of that principled policy. Specifically, it allowed the export of head-up display units manufactured in the UK to the US for incorporation in F-16 fighter jets, which are known to be exported to Israel. In 2006, the British Embassy in Tel Aviv confirmed that F-16s had been used offensively in Lebanon and Gaza. More recently, there have been extensive reports that F-16s were used in the recent offensive against Gaza. F-16s are particularly good at precise targeting because of the quality of their head-up display units. We criticised the announcement made by the Foreign Secretary in 2002 that head-up display units and similar incorporated items could be exported to the US without serious questions being asked about the ultimate end use. When we made that criticism, we were told that the importance of the UK's trade relationship with the United States outweighed the consolidated arms export criteria on human rights and regional stability—so we had to overlook it because of our special relationship with the United States. When the Minister was questioned on 21 January, he told the Committees that it was not yet known whether F-16s taking part in the most recent assault on Gaza had UK head-up display components. I think that the Foreign Affairs Committee was told, on 4 March, that an assessment of that was under way. Will the Minister tell us when the assessment is expected to be finalised and laid before Parliament? When will we know whether the F-16s that took part in the most recent assault in Gaza had UK-manufactured head-up display units incorporated in them? In his letter of 19 February to our Committees, the Minister said that, at that evidence session,""I stated, on the basis of the advice that I had received, that no export licences for F-16 Head-Up Display (HUD) equipment to Israel had been granted since 2002…While this is correct, I would like to clarify that this refers to licences for the export of F-16 HUD components direct…to Israel, for use in Israel. Since that date there have been a small number of licences granted for these goods where although not going direct to Israel, we were aware that Israel was the ultimate end-user"." Will the Minister confirm that, following the policy change in 2002, the Government have no means of preventing Israel from using F-16s incorporated with UK-manufactured head-up display units aggressively in the occupied territories? Will he confirm, so that it is absolutely clear, that licences for the export of head-up display units have been granted in the full knowledge that Israel would be the ultimate end user?