Don’t attack without a vote, MPs from all parties urge May

MPS from across Parliament last night urged Theresa May to change her mind as she prepared to launch military action against Bashar al-Assad without a Commons vote.

Cabinet sources said there was now a ‘broad view’ in Downing Street that the Prime Minister does not need to seek the approval of MPs before launching strikes. Some senior Tories yesterday joined Labour, the LibDems and SNP in demanding MPs are given a say, as they warned of the dangers of how the crisis could escalate.

Since the Iraq War a precedent has been set that all military action abroad is first approved by Parliament, but sources last night told the Mail that no preparations have been made for MPs to return to Westminster before Monday when their Easter recess ends.

When asked if she would recall parliament yesterday, Mrs May declined to answer directly.

Tory MP Sir David Amess said Mrs May needed to come to the Commons before retaliating against Assad following the chemical weapons attack in

Syria. He said: ‘I think we have to look at this situation very, very carefully because since I have been in Parliament we have been involved in conflicts in Iraq and in Afghanistan. Neither with terribly good outcomes.’

Labour, the SNP and Liberal Democrats called on Mrs May to hold a Commons vote before embarking on action. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said: ‘ Parliament should always be given a say on military action. That’s a case that I’ve made going back many, many years in parliament.

‘What happened last weekend was terrible.

‘What we don’t want is bombardment which leads to escalation and leads to a hot war between Russia and America over the skies of Syria.’

The SNP said a failure to consult MPs would be a ‘scandal’. In a letter to Mrs May, the defence spokesman Stewart McDonald said the party would not support any military action which was not ‘part of an overall strategy to bring the war to an end’.

David Cameron lost a Commons vote in 2013 over air strikes to punish Assad’s use of chemical weapons after the then Labour leader Ed Miliband and Conservative rebels opposed the plan.

Jeremy Corbyn’s brother has claimed the chemical weapons attack in Syria was a hoax. Piers Corbyn retweeted a fake news video from a US conspiracy theory website. He tweeted: ‘Video of Syria chemical attack is fake news. Some actors masked, others not in danger zone. Slosh water on children to cry. That’s it!’