Back-door arms sales

The Government should be rightly congratulated on all its work for a global arms trade treaty. If this treaty was in place today, military Land Rovers would never have found their way to Uzbekistan for use in the recent massacre. Until the treaty is in place, Britain must ensure military equipment is not allowed to slip out of its back door for use by dictatorial regimes.

For years, we have urged the government to remove loopholes in our laws. This includes, placing controls on military equipment produced under licence in other countries and ensuring that proper checks are made on the end users of British arms sales. We hope the new minister, Alan Johnson, will act swiftly to change the law to stop more people being killed.
Rt Rev John Saxbee
Bishop of Lincoln
Rt Rev Dr Peter Selby
Bishop of Worcester
Rt Rev Anthony Priddis
Bishop of Hereford
Rt Rev John Packer
Bishop of Ripon and Leeds