May: I won’t risk lives to get MPs’ go-ahead for strikes
BRITISH lives would be put at risk if military action had to be given prior approval by MPs, Theresa May said yesterday.
The Prime Minister spoke during a Commons debate called by Jeremy Corbyn.
The Labour leader argued for a War Powers Act requiring MPs’ advance approval for major military action except in emergencies.
Mr Corbyn said Britain joining the US and French air strikes on Syria had shown a “flagrant disregard” for the parliamentary convention that MPs are consulted.
Mrs May accepted that MPs should be asked first, but made it clear there must be flexibility to deploy forces at short notice.
Such an Act would make small-scale, targeted action like last weekend’s attack “unviable”, she said.
“Making it unlawful for Her Majesty’s Government to undertake any such military intervention without a vote would seriously compromise our national security, our national interests, and the lives of British citizens at home and abroad,” she said.
Mrs May said it had been vital not to give advance warning of the strike.
“The Syrian regime has one of the most sophisticated air defence systems in the world today,” she said. “To counter such a system, it is vital to conceal the timing and targets of any planned attack.
“They could also have pre-empted our attack by dispersing their chemical weapons stocks instead of leaving them at the target sites that we had identified.
Our ability to exploit uncertainty was a critical part of the operation.”
Mrs May said prior debate would have supplied details of the attack which “would have put our Armed Forces at greater risk” as missiles could have been shot down.
“I was not prepared to compromise their safety and the efficacy of the mission,” she said.
She rejected a claim that Parliament had less say over UK foreign policy than US President Donald Trump.
Mrs May said that neither she or the Government “take instructions from any president nor any other national government”.
Mr Corbyn said the public wanted MPs to have a greater role in decisions on military action as “there is no more serious issue than sending our Armed Forces to war”.
A majority of 316 to 276 MPs voted in favour of the largely symbolic motion, saying they had “considered military action rights”.
Many Labour MPs voted against to register dissatisfaction at the lack of a vote before the air strikes.