MPs back US-UK arms treaty
A new US-UK treaty will help alleviate American controls over arms exports to Britain which are undermining UK sovereignty, MPs believe.
The Commons’ defence select committee says current arrangements governing US arms exports controls “work against UK sovereign control” and are delaying British armed forces access to much-needed equipment.
Its report on the latest attempt to alleviate the problem, the UK/US Defence Trade Cooperation Treaty, calls for less restrictive measures to help American and British armed forces work together more effectively in the field.
The US Congress has consistently refused to grant the UK exemptions from its arms-trade regulation requirements. In an effort to circumvent the problem US president George Bush and then-prime minister Tony Blair signed the treaty under question this summer.
Britain’s ratification of the treaty is guaranteed and is supported by the defence committee, but US approval is less certain. MPs hope it will be backed early next year.
There remain concerns over whether the treaty will cover enough military materiel to make it worthwhile, however, as implementing arrangements are yet to be fully determined.
The committee warns “the longer the list of exclusions, the less effective the treaty will be”, but ultimately approves the treaty because “any change that allows a less prescriptive transfer of technology can only assist the UK”.
Committee chairman James Arbuthnot said the treaty would mark a “step-change” in collaboration with the US and “make a real difference to our troops on the ground”.
“This is not just in the interest of the UK and the UK defence industry: the US defence industry is also strongly in support of this treaty and it should benefit US troops as well,” he said.
“We hope that our colleagues in the US Congress will agree that it is in all our interests to remove the barriers to defence cooperation.”
