NEWS: UK - Syria vote: Cameron and Corbyn clash over air strikes

David Cameron has told MPs that bombing so-called Islamic State in Syria will "keep the British people safe".

But Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said the PM's case "doesn't stack up" as MPs debate whether to back air strikes.

Mr Cameron faced calls to apologise for saying opponents of military action were "terrorist sympathisers", with Mr Corbyn saying it "demeaned" his office.

The PM declined to apologise, but said there was "honour" in voting for or against military action.

The 10 hour Commons debate will end with a vote on whether the UK joins others such as France, the US and Russia in bombing targets in Syria.


Air strikes could begin soon, if the Commons delivers what Mr Cameron hopes will be a majority after Mr Corbyn abandoned attempts to impose his opposition to military action on Labour and allowed his MPs a free vote.

Mr Cameron called on MPs to "answer the call from our allies" and take action against the "woman-raping, Muslim-murdering, medieval monsters" of IS, who he warned were "plotting to kill us and to radicalise our children right now".

He said MPs faced a simple question: "Do we work with our allies to degrade and destroy this threat and do we go after these terrorists in their heartlands from where they are plotting to kill British people, or do we sit back and wait for them to attack us?"

The prime minister also defended his controversial claim that there were 70,000 moderate opposition fighters in Syria, saying it was the estimate of the Joint Intelligence Committee - the UK's senior intelligence body.

He said the majority were members of the Free Syrian Army and that there were a further 20,000 Kurdish fighters with whom Britain could also work.

He told MPs the forces were "not ideal, not as many as we would like, but they are people we can work with".

Mr Cameron said that in future the UK government would be referring to IS as Daesh as much as possible, because "this evil death cult is neither a true representation of Islam nor is it a state".

Daesh has negative connotations in the Middle East and is seen by some as a way of challenging the legitimacy of the group.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn told MPs: "It is impossible to avoid the conclusion that the prime minister understands public opposition to his ill thought-out rush to war is growing - and wants to hold the vote before it slips from his hands.

"Whether it's the lack of a strategy worth the name, the absence of credible ground troops, the missing diplomatic plan for a Syrian settlement, the failure to address the impact on the terrorist threat or the refugee crisis and civilian casualties.

"It's become increasingly clear that the prime minister's proposals for military action simply do not stack up."

He disputed Mr Cameron's claim about ground troops, saying it was "quite clear there are no such forces" and only extremists would take advantage of the strikes against IS.

Three former Labour ministers - Alan Johnson, Dame Margaret Beckett and Yvette Cooper - made speeches in favour of extending military action.

Mr Johnson, a former home secretary, said he believed IS had to be "confronted and destroyed if we are to properly defend our country and our way of life".

And he took a swipe at Jeremy Corbyn's supporters, saying: "I find this decision as difficult as anyone to make, I wish I had frankly the self-righteous certitude of the finger-jabbing representatives of our new and kinder type of politics, who will no doubt soon be contacting those of us who support this motion tonight."

Shadow home secretary Andy Burnham told BBC News he would be voting against air strikes as he believed they would make an attack in the UK more likely but he added: "I wouldn't rule out taking military action at some point."

Former Labour leader Ed Miliband will also vote against air strikes, telling the LabourList website they would not "defeat ISIL or make us safer here at home".

A number of Conservative rebels spoke out against the prime minister's position.

Former shadow home secretary David Davis said allied air strikes against IS targets had achieved the "opposite" of their intended effect and the number of recruits to Daesh had doubled to 30,000 since they began - "one extra recruit for every target".

He said it was "debatable" whether allowing the RAF to strike targets in Syria "will make any difference at all" to the military effort.

Conservative MP John Baron warned MPs that "without a comprehensive strategy, air strikes will simply reinforce the West's long-term failure in the region".

Angus Robertson, the SNP's leader at Westminster, said: "I appeal to colleagues on all sides to make sure that we do not ignore the lessons of Afghanistan, ignore the lessons of Iraq, ignore the lessons of Libya.

"Let's not repeat the mistakes of the past, let's not give the green light to military action without a comprehensive and credible plan to win the peace."

But Lib Dem leader Tim Farron warned against learning the wrong lessons from the "illegal, counterproductive war in Iraq", saying: "On balance it is right to take military action to degrade and defeat this evil death cult."


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