British lawmakers to debate motion on airstrikes in Syria

Mr Corbyn will open the debate for Labour, arguing against the motion, but his shadow foreign secretary Hilary Benn, who will make Labour’s closing contribution, will argue in favour of it. Acknowledging the deep divisions in the party over the issue, the Labour leader said the course advocated by Mr Benn would lead to the killing of civilians in Syria.

Ministers are confident that lawmakers will then vote “Yes”, meaning the first Royal Air Force (RAF) planes could be bombing targets in Syria by the end of the week.

He warned: “We are going to kill people in their homes by our bombs”.

Mr Corbyn claimed the vast majority of Labour MPs were against military action, which he described as a unsafe step into the unknown, and only a small number of “die-hard” colleagues would vote with the Government.

More than 50 Labour MPs were last night briefed on the case for war by Michael Fallon, the Defence Secretary.

A motion approved by Cabinet ministers proposes “military action, specifically airstrikes, exclusively against ISIL in Syria”, using another acronym for the group.

A ballot in Britain’s The Times newspaper by pollster YouGov to be revealed on Wednesday discovered that lower than half of Britons, at forty eight %, supported Syria strikes, in comparison with fifty nine % final week.

Cameron published the government’s motion on bombing IS targets in Syria on Tuesday afternoon.

“We are very, very angry about this”.

The support came one day ahead of a crucial vote in the British Parliament in support of joining the battle in Syria.

Mr Cameron set out his strategy as a direct response to a highly-critical assessment by the Foreign Affairs Select Committee but it voted by four to three that he “has not adequately addressed concerns” in key areas.

“By refusing a full two-days debate, David Cameron is demonstrating he knows the debate is running away from him, and that the case he made last week is falling apart”, said Corbyn. Writing in The Daily Telegraph he said: “We ask you, our friends in the United Kingdom, Europe and the World, to stand together with us in meeting the challenge and eliminating this global threat”.

“Let their record speak for them, we should not follow them into another catastrophe, ” it adds. And just a few weeks ago, Cameron called off a planned vote on anti-ISIS strikes in Syria, believing he didn’t have the support.

Mr Livingstone said today: “No. I simply told the truth”.

“I hope every MP will recognise tomorrow there is no hiding place on whipping or anything else; you have got to make up your own mind”, he said.

Explaining why, the MP said: “To support military action I would need to be convinced that there was a coherent and credible military and political strategy, as well as being assured of the legality of any potential action”.

“As all military experts agree, without a clear plan for ground forces to liberate the territory Daesh controls, bombing will not change the balance of power in Syria, and at present I am not convinced there is any such credible plan available”.