MPs were told the “woman-raping, Muslim-murdering, medieval monsters” of IS are “plotting to kill us and to radicalise our children right now” by David Cameron as he laid out his case for intervention. Delay would simply give IS time to grow stronger.
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Corbyn, who is allowing Labour MPs to have a “free vote” but will vote against further military intervention, said Cameron’s proposal “simply doesn’t stack up”.
On the Labour side there was widespread dismay at Mr Corbyn’s handling of the issue, following his statement last week that he could not support air strikes – seen by critics as an attempt to pre-empt the shadow cabinet meeting.
Around a dozen Conservative MPs could defy the party whip, along with 54 Scottish National Party members and the majority of the Labour Party to vote against military action.
Former Labour ministers – Alan Johnson, Dame Margaret Beckett and Yvette Cooper – were among MPs making early speeches in favour of extending military action.
“The question is this”, Cameron said in his appeal.
“And what we know about fascists is that they need to be defeated…we must now confront this evil”.
Speaking on an amendment signed by more than 100 MPs from six parties – including Tories and Labour – the SNP’s leader in Westminster said his party does “share the concerns of everybody else” about the terrorist threat posed by Daesh.
Cameron, who visited French President Francois Hollande after the attacks that killed 130 people, has pushed for the expansion. The plan to strike ISIL in Syria is backed by a majority of the British people, according to two recent polls, but has prompted anti-war demonstrations.
He declared: “I do not believe that that will be the case”, pointing out how IS had been trying to attack the United Kingdom for the past year and seven different plots had been foiled.
“The question is this: do we work with our allies to degrade and destroy this threat and do we go after these terrorists in their heartlands?” he said.
“Britain is safer tonight because of the decision that the House of Commons has taken”, foreign minister Philip Hammond told Sky News.
Cameron’s argument that Britain should launch more military action in the Middle East was all but drowned out by MPs demanding he apologise for suggesting that those opposing air strikes were “a bunch of terrorist sympathisers”.
Indeed, after repeating the 70,000 moderate forces figure again, Mr Cameron acknowledged himself that these were not “ideal partners” but could in some form be useful and play a role in the future of Syria.
But Peter notes that “support for joining the air campaign against ISIS in Syria as well as Irag is growing, and the government sounds confident about being able to order the strikes to begin in a matter of days”.
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The government said that military action is “only one component of a broader strategy” to tackle ISIS and the United Kingdom government would not deploy troops on the ground.
