Former Cabinet Secretary Lord Mark Sedwill has said the government needs explain in Parliament the legal advice on UK arms sales to Israel.

“Even if it is lawful,” he told the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg, “is it right to continue these arms sales?”

He added that the government also needs to explain the policy issue, including if the arms sales can be “used to extract some kind of leverage over Israel about the way they’re conducting this campaign”.

Lord Sedwill was the UK’s top civil servant before leaving to become a non-executive director at BAE Systems, which is linked to arms sales in Israel.

Read more: UK-Israel arms sales advice has not changed – Dowden