Day: February 16, 2019

    The UK is on “the wrong side of the law” by sanctioning arms exports to Saudi Arabia for the war in Yemen and should suspend some of the export licences, an all-party Lords committee has said. The report by the international relations select committee says ministers are not making independent checks to see if arms supplied by the UK are being used in breach of the law, but is instead relying on inadequate investigations by the Saudis, its allies in the war. It describes the humanitarian plight of Yemenis as “unconscionable”. It is the first unanimous report from a parliamentary committee describing Saudi arms export sales as unlawful, and comes ahead of an imminent high court appeal by campaigners to block arms sales to Saudi Arabia on the grounds they are in breac...

    Twelve angry ministers could quit Theresa May’s cabinet if she refuses to delay Brexit , it has been claimed. Former attorney general Dominic Grieve claimed resignations on this scale could bring down the Government within the next few weeks. But Brexiteer Commons leader Andrea Leadsom insisted Mrs May’s 45-vote defeat last night was “more of a hiccup than the disaster that is being reported.” And she blamed the defeat on the Labour party “playing politics”, rather than the 71 members of her own party who abstained or voted against their Prime Minister’s plan. And she suggested Mrs May could survive six ministers quitting her cabinet, saying: “Resignations from government do happen.” Asked how many ministers could resign, Mr Grieve said: "I think we are talking a...