Yesterday evening the Prime Minister authorised British armed forces to conduct co-ordinated and targeted strikes to degrade the Syrian regime’s chemical weapons capability and deter their use. My constituents across the Eastleigh constituency have a right to understand why this action was deemed necessary by the Prime Minister, and I am able to provide this Statement this morning.
First of all, the UK acted together with our American and French allies. Let me be quite clear as the PM has been, this is NOT about intervening in a civil war. It is not about regime change.
This action - which the Prime Minister has not taken lightly – followed a chemical weapons attack in Douma last Saturday, which killed up to 75 people, including young children, in circumstances of pure horror.
The speed with which we have acted has been essential in co-operating with our partners to alleviate further humanitarian suffering and to maintain the vital security of our operations.
The UK’s action in Syria also comes after a significant body of information including intelligence which indicated that the Syrian Regime is responsible for this use of chemical weapons in Douma last Saturday. While the full assessment of the strike is ongoing, the Government is confident of its success.
The PM has acted because the UK is permitted under international law to take measures to alleviate overwhelming human suffering. The three conditions that need to be met include:
1. Convincing evidence, generally accepted by the international community, of extreme humanitarian distress on a large scale requiring immediate and urgent relief;
2. It must be objectively clear that there is no practicable alternative to the use of force if lives are to be saved;
3. Proposed use of force must be necessary and proportionate to the aim of relief of humanitarian suffering and must be strictly limited in time and scope to this aim (ie minimum necessary to achieve that end and for no other purpose).
The Prime Minister believes those criteria have been met in this case, and she’ll be setting out her full reasoning’s to Parliament on Monday.
It is also important to note that Assad signed the Chemical Weapons Convention in 2013 and said he had destroyed his stockpile, with Russia as guarantor of that. It is clear that the Syrian Regime and Russia have no respect for international laws or human rights, and want to make them inoperable by breaching with continued impunity.
We cannot allow the use of chemical weapons to become normalised – within Syria, on the streets of the UK, or anywhere else in our world.
The Prime Minister has been clear that she would have preferred an alternative path. But on this occasion there is none. Even this week the Russians again vetoed a Resolution at the UN Security Council which would have established an independent investigation into the Douma attack.
History teaches us that the International Community must defend the global rules and standards that keep us all safe. This sentiment has been echoed by the former Prime Minister, David Cameron, who has this morning made clear that as we have seen in the past, inaction too has its consequences.
As I have already mentioned, the Prime Minister will be making a full Statement to the House of Commons on Monday, and I will be in the Chamber to listen to the Prime Minister, and to comments from parliamentary colleagues across Parliament.
As always, our armed forces have again served our country with the greatest professionalism and bravery – and we owe them a huge debt of gratitude.
PM statement on Syria: 14 April 2018:
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/pm-statement-on-syria-14-april-2018
Statement from the Ministry of Defence:
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/raf-jets-strike-chemical-weapon-facility-in-syria
Response from around the world:
Angela Merkel: ‘We support the fact that our US, UK and French allies took on responsibility in this way as permanent members of the UN Security Council. The military strike was necessary and appropriate in order to preserve the effectiveness of the international ban on the use of chemical weapons and to warn the Syrian regime against further violations’.
NATO Secretary General: ‘I support the actions taken by the United States, the United Kingdom and France against the Syrian regime’s chemical weapons facilities and capabilities. This will reduce the regime’s ability to further attack the people of Syria with chemical weapons’.
Donald Tusk: ‘Strikes by US, France and UK make it clear that Syrian regime together with Russia & Iran cannot continue this human tragedy, at least not without cost. The EU will stand with our allies on the side of justice'.
Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada: ‘Canada supports the decision by the United States, the United Kingdom, and France to take action to degrade the Assad regime’s ability to launch chemical weapons attacks against its own people. We will continue to work with our international partners to further investigate the use of chemical weapons in Syria. Those responsible must be brought to justice’.
Jacinda Arden, Prime Minister of New Zealand: ‘The Government has always favoured diplomatic efforts and a multilateral approach. The use of the veto powers at the Security Council prevented that course of action. We have always condemned the use of the veto, including by Russia in this case.New Zealand therefore accepts why the US, UK and France have today responded to the grave violation of international law, and the abhorrent use of chemical weapons against civilians. The action was intended to prevent further such atrocities being committed against Syrian civilians’.
Lars Løkke Rasmussen, Prime Minister of Denmark: ‘In wars there are rules and they have Assad grossly neglected in Douma. The international community must respond. Therefore, the Government also supports the significant military response of our NATO allies’.
Margot Wallström, Swedish Minister for Foreign Affairs: ‘Sweden understands the anger that has been provoked by the horrendous attacks committed in Syria… The United States, the United Kingdom and France took military action in Syria last night aimed at deterring the use of chemical weapons’.
Mark Rutte, Prime Minister of Netherlands: ‘The Cabinet probably considers that poison gas has been used and that the Syrian regime is behind it. The International Community cannot accept this. We therefore understand the reaction of the United States, the UK and France, which is proportionate and deliberate in the current circumstances'.