No-one can fail to have been shocked by the news of large scale starvation and malnutrition which emerged from the Gulf state of Yemen this week.

This is the direct result of a war waged by Saudi Arabia with the aid of the British arms industry, ably and enthusiastically supported by the British Government.

In today’s Time, Matthew Parris argues that it’s time to stop selling weapons to this bloody and indefensible state.

Weaning Britain off selling arms to Saudi Arabia won’t be easy. I’ll be like weaning an addict off heroin. There will always be howls of anguish from people who need their next fix of money; there will always be understandable concerns about job losses.

That doesn’t make it wrong. Good planning and, where necessary, generous compensation would be a small price to pay for extracting ourselves from this bloody and indefensible trade.

Time to do the right thing.