Commons should back Syria air strikes – President Hollande

Labour is divided on whether to support Mr Cameron’s call for air strikes, with about half of the shadow cabinet believed to back intervention.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn says the Prime Minister’s case for attacks is unconvincing and wrote to his MPs to say he does not support the plan.

Parliament is expected to vote on the issue next week after Prime Minister David Cameron on Thursday urged action on Syria saying: “The threats to our interests and to our people are such that we can not afford to stand aside and not to act”.

The MP also suggested the survey would only reach the new Labour members and registered supporters attracted by Mr Corbyn, as the party did not have email addresses for numerous long-term backers.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has faced increasingly furious attacks from his own MPs on the issue since Thursday, when he told his shadow cabinet he would not support airstrikes.

But Hilary Benn, the party’s shadow foreign secretary, argued that there was a “compelling” case for British air strikes on IS targets inside Syria.

“We should unite around this position to allow MPs to form their own view whether David Cameron’s proposals have merit”.

A version of this article appears in print on November 28, 2015 of The Himalayan Times.

Following the savage attack on Paris, French President Francois Hollande has travelled widely, and with some success, in an effort to forge agreement among world leaders on how to “destroy” Isil.

Long-time anti-war campaigner Corbyn is opposed to airstrikes, but several members of the party have signalled they will rebel amid talk that some could resign over the issue.

Extending military action into Syria will make the United Kingdom safer, the prime minister said.

McDonnell said the “horrendous mistake” of the Iraq War had been partly due to MPs being “whipped and threatened and pushed” into supporting “something many of them did not believe in”.

He spoke about the Government’s model of devolution for the North East but refused to be drawn on how much weight County Durham’s vote on the North East devolution deal should be given, adding: “I think what he’s trying to do is devolve to big city local authorities”.

The SNP’s leader at Westminster, Angus Robertson indicated that his party was likely to oppose the military action.

But he added: “There are people within the PLP (Parliamentary Labour Party) who, quite simply put, have not accepted the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn”.

In a welcome development, France’s foreign minister said last Friday that President Putin had asked France to draw up a map of where groups fighting Isil militants operate in Syria in order not to bomb them.

Rylance said bombing IS could ultimately strengthen the group: “I fear we may be playing right into what they want – bombing more civilians and therefore helping them recruit more desperate young men with no other way in responding in their grief than by fighting back”.

He said airstrikes should be part of a “comprehensive overall strategy” to destroy IS, end the Syrian war and help rebuild the country.