AMs criticise Syria action as Government abstains
ASSEMBLY members have criticised military intervention in Syria. An urgent debate was put forward by Plaid Cymru leader Leanne Wood in the Senedd yesterday to debate Britain’s involvement in military action in Syria.
While chief whip Julie James said the Government would abstain from a vote about whether the debate should be heard, 27 AMs agreed there should be a debate. Another 15 abstained while nine objected.
Ms Wood said she had lodged the urgent debate because none of the UK Parliaments were consulted.
Carwyn Jones told the Senedd on Tuesday he had been called by Prime Minister Theresa May at midnight on Saturday to discuss the planned action with him.
He told AMs: “It was clear what the action was going to be. I made clear to her my concern that I feared there would be civilian casualties, given the complicated mosaic on the ground in Syria.
“My concern, and it was made to her at the time, I was very concerned that it wouldn’t be possible to take any action without civilian casualties and that was something that I wanted to avoid.”
The motion by Ms Wood said: “Without a shred of democratic legitimacy, without a single vote in a single UK Parliament, the UK Government approved the strike,” she said.
“AMs must have the opportunity to scrutinise the First Minister on this statement and on his reasons for supporting the attack,” said Ms Wood.
She added there were Welsh men and women in the military and that Wales has become home to a number of Syrian refugees.
Ms James said that debating the air strikes in the Senedd “risked blurring the lines between what is debated in the National Assembly and in Parliament”.
She said the Government would be abstaining in the vote and backbench Labour AMs would have a free vote.
First Minister Carwyn Jones missed the start of the debate and faced criticism from both Ms Wood and Andrew RT Davies for not being present.
Ms Wood urged the First Minister to do “all he can” to resolve the conflict.
“Plaid Cymru does not support this tokenism American led air strike on Syria. The path to peace is never paved with the weapons to war,” she said.
Labour AM for Swansea East Mike Hedges said he voted for the debate and he believed Westminster should have had a vote before any action was taken.
“It’s almost as if our policy is can we keep this civil war going on as long as possible,” he said.
Fellow Labour AM Julie Morgan said she believed the “people of Wales wanted to see us debating issues of huge importance here in this chamber”.
Mr Davies said while he disagreed with Ms Wood’s points, he thought it was important the debate went forward. Bethan Sayed said she was not sure if Mr Jones consulted cabinet or the Labour group and he “made that decision in our name, but I’d like to say he didn’t make it in my name”.
Ukip’s David Rowlands said the party condemned the actions taken by Britain and America.