Shadow global development secretary Diane Abbott, a close colleague of Mr Corbyn on the Labour left, said the final decision was for the leader but insisted “public opinion is moving towards us in opposing the rush to war”.
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“On this issue I am clear our national security is threatened by ISIL”.
Ahead of the shadow cabinet meeting at 2pm, frontbenchers told me that they still didn’t know whether Jeremy Corbyn would allow them a free vote on Syria. “The Iraq factor is massive – it’s front and centre” for Labour MPs deciding whether to support action in Syria, according to Victoria Honeyman, an expert on British foreign policy at Leeds University.
“As the Prime Minister has made clear, if we don’t think we have the numbers, we won’t call a vote”.
Anti-war demonstrators were due to march in London later on Saturday against any extension of military action by Britain.
“I believe that actually the solution in Syria, and in Iraq as well, is in the hands of the regional powers”.
He claimed the RAF’s precision air strikes had not claimed a single civilian life during action taken against IS in Iraq, and warned that the UK’s reputation would be damaged and the population less safe if action was not taken in Syria.
He said: “I don’t believe that is acceptable”.
He went on: “On certain issues, the ones really above party politics, we have got to have mature politics in our democracy now”.
Lindsey German, who organized the Downing Street protest for Stop the War had a message for MPs s in parliament, “You have made a disastrous mistake in 2003 when you voted for war”.
“There shouldn’t be any party discipline on matters like this. You should follow your own judgment of what’s best in the interests of the constituency and the country”.
Mr Corbyn also argued the party at Westminster needed to listen to the views of Labour members, whom he has been canvassing in support of his opposition to extending United Kingdom military action.
Trying to achieve a political settlement in Syria and cutting off Isis funding, oil trading and weapons supply should be the priority, he said.
Mr Murray said the case falls down because of a lack of capacity in the Free Syrian Army, uncertainty over the position of Russian Federation and what to do with Syrian president Bashar al-Assad and the opposition from the people of Raqqa.
Shadow justice secretary Lord Falconer confirmed there were “significant differences” within the shadow cabinet, and he did not think it would be possible to reach a collective view.
“Frankly, I think the threat of mass resignations has been exaggerated but we will have to see”.
Others are said to want Corbyn himself to quit over the issue.
The defiant appearance on the BBC’s Andrew Marr show will have done nothing to ease tensions with his shadow cabinet, where there have been warnings of resignations. “I think people will be saying, we will not be pushed around like this”. “It is no way to run a party”, he said. He emailed party members directly over the weekend to ask for their view.
The set out a number of tests it said should be met before air strikes were considered.
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We contacted the Labour Party to clarify the methodology of the poll, but they had not replied at the time of publication.
