Letter to the Mayor about DSEI arms fair

Dear Sadiq,

Defence and Security Equipment International (DSEI) arms fair

I am writing as a Green Party London Assembly Member, and on behalf of my colleagues Zack Polanski AM and Zoë Garbett AM.

Londoners have been writing to us expressing their desperation at the escalating violence in the Middle East and are calling for stronger action from Government on the international stage to bring about a ceasefire and solutions for long-term peace. People are distraught by the attacks on innocent civilians and the huge numbers of people who have died.

Within this international context and intensifying bloodshed, we believe it is unconscionable that London continues to host one of the world’s largest arms fairs, that markets deadly weapons and military technology, to states that abuse human rights and flout international law.

The Defence and Security Equipment International (DSEI) arms fair is a stain on our city.

You have always joined us in condemning the DSEI arms fair and we welcome this, as well as your new announcement of funding to counter the steep rise in antisemitic and Islamophobic hate crimes.

In a previous exchange on this issue you told me you had “written to both ExCel, [who host the event], and the event organiser strongly urging them to not hold this event at ExCel in future”.

Could you update me on this correspondence and what further representations you have made to both ExCel and the organiser about not holding this event in London?

We ask you to again stand with us in denouncing the arms fair and all atrocities where the British Government is supplying arms around the world.

Yours sincerely,

Caroline Russell AM

Green Party Member of the London Assembly