The UK government has been forced to retract numerous written and oral statements to parliament which said ministers had assessed that Saudi Arabia was not in breach of international humanitarian law in Yemen. The admission, issued on the final day of parliament before the summer recess, led to calls by the Liberal Democrats for an investigation into Saudi behaviour in Yemen and a suspension of UK arms sales. The Liberal Democrats have repeatedly claimed that the Saudi military campaign has targeted civilians. The Foreign Office said the incorrect statements, made by three different ministers, some as far back as six months ago, were errors and did not represent an attempt to mislead MPs over its assessment of the Saudi campaign. It stressed that other written answers had made clear that the UK government had made no assessment of whether the Saudis were in breach of humanitarian law. It was not immediately clear why the Foreign Office chose to issue the clarification in the form of a written answer on the last day of parliament, a day when ministers poured out more than 30 written answers. It simply said it had been reviewing the correspondence. The government is facing a court… Read full this story
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