THE Labour Party Conference in Brighton yesterday voted for an emergency motion moved by Unite calling for a United Nations Security Council resolution to be in place before there could be any British bombing of Syria.
Moving the motion, Unite’s Ivan Monckton said: ‘It’s likely that very soon David Cameron will ask parliament to authorise Britain to take military action in Syria, just two years after he last proposed it and Labour, under Ed Miliband’s leadership, forced him to back down.
‘And let’s remember, had Cameron won that vote ISIL, the very people he now proposes to attack, would be even stronger today than they presently are … Cameron’s latest plan, to have Parliament authorise Britain to take military action in Syria, is taking place at the same time as there are renewed efforts to start the Geneva peace process.
‘Now is not the time to blunder into a new war, another illegal war, with untold human casualties, more death, destruction and chaos, creating more refugees. It’s time to get behind diplomacy and end the Syrian civil war and empower the people of the region to confront ISIS and its allies.’
Sajid Shaikh, from the CWU, said: ‘We have learnt our lessons from the failed interventions in Iraq and Libya, pursued unilaterally with little thought as to what would be left behind … Any efforts by David Cameron to bring forward bombing by the UK without international and UN support must be opposed by the Labour Party.’
Fran Griffiths, Swansea West Constituency Labour Party and Unite member, was applauded when she said: ‘Against our party’s advice at the time, we took ourselves and our banner down to London to oppose the Iraq war. We’re still feeling the repercussions of that war.’
The UK will bomb the Islamic State for ‘as long as it takes’, Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond told the UN on Tuesday. Speaking to the United Nations General Assembly, Hammond claimed the people of Syria are facing the ‘twin evils’ of IS and President Assad’s ‘murderous regime’.
Two years ago MPs rejected UK military action in Syria, but have since sanctioned air strikes in Iraq.
