THE British government should answer for its role in Saudi Arabia’s war on Yemen as part of any “just peace,” Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) said today.

Delegates from Yemen’s Houthi movement and a Saudi-led coalition met for talks this week.

During the eight-year conflict, Britain supplied £25 billion in weapons which were used by Saudi Arabia to attack Yemen, with bomb strikes hitting hospitals, weddings, funerals and key infrastructure.

Millions of Yemenis face famine in what has been described as one of the world’s worst humanitarian disasters.

The Tory government also cut its aid budget to Yemen by almost 60 per cent in 2021.

CAAT said the aid should be “urgently reinstated” to make reparations to the Yemeni people and to give them a chance to rebuild and restore their devastated country.

Emily Apple of CAAT said: “Any moves towards creating a lasting peace in Yemen are obviously welcomed. 

“However, for a lasting and just peace, recognition is needed of the role that the UK and other Western countries have played in prolonging and aggravating the conflict.

“The UK government and British arms companies have prioritised profit over people’s lives. They have been complicit in war crimes.

“Despite licensing billions of pounds worth of arms, the UK government has cut its aid budget. 

“At the very least, these cuts need to be reversed as a lasting peace will only come if Yemen is given the means to start rebuilding the damage of a brutal eight-year war that has been aided and abetted by the UK government.”