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Ministers to pimp the arms trade 25.06.10
A Government Minister has declared that senior members of the Government will promote arms exports to compensate for budget cuts at the Ministry of Defence. Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) says that this brazen support for the arms trade by the new Coalition Government will result in existing arms controls being further overridden or ignored and arms companies gaining ever greater influence over government.
Peter Luff, Defence Equipment Minister, is reported to have said: “There will be a very, very, very heavy ministerial commitment to the process. There is a sense that in the past we were rather embarrassed about exporting defence products. There is no such embarrassment in this Government.”
CAAT says that the statement is unusual in its frankness but, in reality, there is little difference from the policies pursued by the Labour Government. Government support for the arms industry already runs into billions of pounds per annum, including Research & Development spending, generous procurement arrangements and government-backed insurance. Arms exports receive disproportionate support from the special sales unit in UK Trade & Investment Defence & Security Organisation (UKTI DSO).
Successive Governments justify such measures as necessary to retain high quality jobs in engineering and science. However, only 0.2% of the UK workforce is employed in arms export jobs and arms comprise just 1.5% of total exports. CAAT estimates that each arms export job is subsidised to the tune of £9,000.
Unsurprisingly, the arms industry welcomes Peter Luff’s statement. Alan Garwood, group business development director at BAE Systems, was quoted by The Times as saying: “We are very encouraged by the explicit support for defence exports which the new Government has set out.”
Speaking on behalf of CAAT, Kaye Stearman said:
"The government should be deeply embarrassed by Peter Luff’s statement because, apart from the ethical problems posed by ministers acting as salesmen, flogging weapons to abusive and undemocratic countries, it is based on the false premise that arms sales benefit the economy and create jobs. They don’t. Rather, arms exports only increase the profits and political influence of globalised arms companies and waste resources that could be used to support greater security and economic well-being.”
Arms receive official assistance far in excess of other industrial sectors, and from several UK Government departments. The most obvious manifestation of this support is the arms sales unit – the Defence & Security Organisation – within UK Trade & Investment (UKTI DSO). This unit has 180 staff dedicated to arms sales. The specific support provided to ALL non-arms sectors amounts to 142 staff. Arms sales account for 56% of sector specific staff resources despite arms being only 1.5% of total exports.
UKTI DSO coordinates arms selling activities by:
- Constant liaison with the companies they are selling arms for: while supporting BAE Systems forms a major part of UKTI DSO‘s activity, it is as happy to sell arms for overseas-headquartered companies such as Thales and Finmeccanica. UKTI DSO only requires that a company has an active UK trading address.
- Building relationships with government and military officials from overseas countries: arms buyers like to know that the ’home’ Government supports the deal. UKTI DSO meets with military officials and the armed forces of potential buyers to provide this reassurance and facilitate sales. It has a list of 19 "Priority Markets" where activity is focussed but is also supporting arms sales campaigns in another 33 countries.
- Encouraging political intervention in support of arms sales: direct UKTI DSO sales support is important, but often higher level political support is required to push deals through. Delivering Whitehall, including Prime Ministerial, support is a routine part of UKTI DSO work.
- Ensuring that the UK armed forces are on hand to help arms companies in their sales efforts: UKTI DSO has its own embedded specialist military officers and an army demonstration team. Its military staff help coordinate the support of the wider armed forces and their equipment for arms export campaigns.
- Attending and helping companies attend overseas arms fairs, and organising arms fairs in the UK: UKTI DSO organises stands and VIP delegations to arms fairs around the world. Staff become colleagues in arms trading with militaries from countries under international arms embargoes, such as Burma and Sudan, as well as thousands of business visitors who could be working for anyone or anything. In the UK, UKTI DSO are an integral and essential part of the arms fairs themselves. They coordinate official invitations to military delegations and provide logistical, political and financial support.
Private gain, public pain The case for ending the Government’s arms selling CAAT briefing (PDF)
Related links
Campaign Against the Arms Trade
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