Saudi Arabia has stalled signing a £4bn ($6bn) defence contract with the UK until a new government is voted in after the May general election.

The contract concerns weapons for Eurofighter Typhoon jets bought by the government through a £20bn ($30.3bn) deal signed with the UK in September 2007, according to timesonline.co.uk.

Saudi Arabia is considering purchasing at least 24 more Eurofighters, worth around £1.5bn ($2.27bn) but have temporarily stalled the process with a view to restarting discussions once the next parliament is installed.

The Saudi Government made a similar move in 2006 when the country stalled a deal to buy 72 Typhoons at a cost of £4.43bn until a few months after Gordon Brown had replaced Tony Blair.