The shocking scale of UK arms exports has just been revealed

Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) has published its annual report for UK arms exports in 2023. It summaries key quantitative and qualitative trends in UK arms exports in 2023, and in the five–10 year periods up to 2023, using a variety of sources of information. It is the only place where all this information is collated and discussed as a whole.

UK arms exports: making a killing

The report reveals that the US was the largest recipient of single licenses, totalling £984m (19.8% of the total). While these exports took place during Biden’s presidency, given the current actions and trajectory of the Donald Trump-led administration, there are serious human rights concerns regarding continuing this level of exports. The US, meanwhile, is not only deeply complicit, but outright encouraging the escalation of Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

Meanwhile, in 2023, there was a massive jump in arms exports to Europe. Overall, the value of UK companies’ arms export contracts to Europe more than quadrupled between 2013–17 and 2019–23, reaching £16.15 billion in the latter period. This reflects a trend towards European rearmament that has been going on for many years, but which greatly accelerated with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Then, despite not being as high as in previous years, sales to human rights abusing regimes in Saudi Arabia and Qatar remain high. In 2023, the UK issued single licenses worth £515m (10.4% of the total) to Saudi Arabia, and £351m (7.1% of the total) to Qatar.

While the trend towards European militarisation is likely to continue, the lull in sales to the Middle East may be temporary with new deals for Eurofighters to Qatar and Turkey looking increasingly likely.

Open licences are deadly

Overall, the lack of transparency in the arms trade makes it difficult to calculate the true value of UK arms exports. This is due to the lack of reporting required on open licenses. Under an open license, a company can export unlimited amounts of specified military equipment without further reporting requirements. CAAT estimates that, on average, roughly half of UK arms exports are conducted using open licenses.

Report author Dr. Sam Perlo-Freeman said:

The increasing militarisation of Europe reflected in this report is deeply concerning, and likely to continue. There is an urgent need to reevaluate how we think about security, so that instead of pumping money into arms companies, we start tackling the biggest security threat to humanity – the climate crisis.

Meanwhile, the Labour government is increasing military spending while announcing yet more benefit cuts and taking money from sick and disabled people. Moreover, while increasing domestic arms spending, governments are also promoting arms exports more strongly than ever, with devastating impacts around the world. We should be promoting welfare, not warfare, instead of creating a spiralling arms race that entrenches hostility and increases the chances of war.

This report shows the UK’s arms system is unethical and unaccountable and in desperate need of radical reform. Arms sales to human rights abusing regimes such as Saudi Arabia and Qatar must stop, and it’s more than time that we started putting civilian lives and peaceful solutions before arms trade profits.

Featured image via the Canary