L

Lord Wolfson of Tredegar (Con)

Speaking in the House of Lords on 25 March 2025

Debate

Israel: Arms Exports

Contribution

My Lords, on 15 October my noble friend Lord Howard of Lympne asked a Written Question of the Attorney-General, who I am pleased to see in his place. He asked whether the Attorney-General’s advice was that licences to export arms to Israel had to be suspended. The Attorney’s reply cited the usual convention that his advice was confidential. But, on 5 September, the noble Baroness, Lady Chapman of Darlington, referred expressly to the substance of that advice when explaining to this House why arms exports had to be suspended. Her answer therefore both breached the convention on Attorney-Generals’ advice and contradicted the Foreign Secretary’s explanation, because he said in the other place that the Government had a “discretion” on whether to suspend the licences. Can we now finally have a clear answer to a clear question? Were the Government legally required to suspend those arms export licences or did they have a discretion that they chose to exercise in a particular way?

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