Fresh material released by CAAT indicates a sizable upsurge in the UK weapons sales, in some instances to nations that the UK government itself views as problematic in terms of international law and human rights, such as Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, among others. Overall, London approved arms deals worth some 1.5 billion pounds (almost $2 billion) in 2017 versus 820 million a year earlier, according to CAAT figures.
"What we have seen and might happen in the aftermath of Brexit is that this government might lay a greater focus than is already the case on maximising arms sales to human rights abusing regimes … A lot of the growth has come from Saudi Arabia specifically, which has a lot to do with fighter jet sales and bomb sales, which have massively affected the total figure," Smith said.
Although a total of 18 "human rights priority" nations were listed in CAAT's figures as being recipients for UK arms sales, Saudi Arabia came out ahead in terms of total purchases made, having spent some 1.3 billion pounds on the UK weapons over the course of the year, according to the spokesman.
Thus, London is "complicit" in the destruction of Yemen since it has been providing arms to Saudi Arabia, which leads the coalition carrying out strikes on the Yemeni rebels, the spokesman noted.
The human rights activists are especially concerned by the alleged use of the Open Independent Export Licenses (OIELs) in the United Kingdom to deliver weapons to controversial governments.
According to CAAT, OIELS have been previously used to export arguably "less sensitive materials" without due oversight in regard to either quantity or use, potentially ensuring that the total value of such exports may be higher than originally estimated.
