Theresa May has refused to be drawn on whether missiles manufactured in the UK and sold to Saudi Arabia have been responsible for civilian deaths in Yemen.
The Government has faced fierce criticism for selling arms to the country for potential use in Yemen's bloody civil war which pits the Yemeni government, backed by Saudi Arabia, against Shiite Yemeni rebels.
Ministers have faced repeated calls to impose a ban on the sale of weapons amid concerns that international humanitarian law could be being broken in the conflict.
Read more: Call to impose 'super majority' on second independence referendum
Angus Robertson, the SNP's leader in Westminster, demanded at Prime Minister's Questions to know whether missiles partially built in Scotland had been responsible for the deaths of innocent civilians.
But Mrs May would not be drawn as she said the Government had "pressed" Saudi Arabia to "properly investigate" any incidents of concern.
Mr Robertson said: "Thousands of innocent civilians have now been killed by Saudi air strikes in Yemen.
"Can the Prime Minister give the House an assurance that those civilians have not been killed by Paveway IV missiles, partially manufactured in Scotland under licence from her Government to Saudi Arabia?"
Mrs May replied: "As you know we have one of the toughest regimes in the world in relation to arms exports.
Read more: Call to impose 'super majority' on second independence referendum
"When these allegations arise then we have been pressing, I have pressed in the past and the Foreign Secretary has pressed, the Saudi Arabian government to properly investigate these issues and to learn the lessons from them."
Mr Robertson asked his question again.
"It's beyond doubt that Saudi air forces bombing Yemen, flying planes that are made in Britain, by pilots that are trained by Britain, and they are dropping missiles that are made in Britain," he said.
"I asked you a direct question and you couldn't answer it, so I can try for a second time.
"Can you give this House an assurance that civilians have not been killed by Paveway IV bombs being dropped on Yemen which are partially manufactured in Scotland under licence by the Government, and if you don't know the answer to that question how can you possibly in good conscience continue selling them to Saudi Arabia?"
Read more: Call to impose 'super majority' on second independence referendum
Mrs May reiterated that the UK urges the Saudi government to conduct thorough investigations into any incidents "before we reach a decision or a conclusion".
She said: "We have a very strong relationship with Saudi Arabia - that is important for this country.
"It's important in terms of dealing with counter-terrorism and a number of other issues.
"But what matters when incidents happen about which there is concern is that they are properly investigated."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel