Downing Street releases prime minister’s reply to foreign affairs committee setting out case for strikes against Isis
David Cameron has urged MPs to back UK airstrikes against Islamic State in Syria, saying that the terrorist organisation is using the sanctuary of northern Syria to launch plots with deadly intent against the British people.
In a statement to the Commons the prime minister appealed for MPs to back airstrikes in Syria, asking: “If not now, when?” Cameron said the UK could not afford to stand aside from the fight and it was morally unacceptable to leave the US, France and other allies to carry the burden.
In a written response to the foreign affairs committee published before he addressed MPs, the prime minister says: “The threats to our interests and to our people are such that we cannot afford to stand aside and not to act.”
“Throughout Britain’s history we have been called on time and again to make the hardest of decisions in defence of our citizens and our country. Today one of the greatest threats we face to our security is the threat from Isil [Isis].”
Cameron says: “The longer Isil is allowed to grow in Syria, the greater the threat it will pose. It is wrong for the United Kingdom to subcontract its security to other countries, and to expect the aircrews of other nations to carry the burdens and the risks of striking Isil in Syria to stop terrorism here in Britain.”
He says all seven terror plots in the UK this year have been directed by Isis or inspired by the group’s propaganda.
He claims the terror group has an external operations group dedicated to causing mass casualty attacks around the world. He insists the strikes against Isis will be part of a comprehensive political and diplomatic plan to deny the group space and create the circumstances for an end to the civil war in Syria.
Read more:
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/nov/26/david-cameron-publishes-case-for-syria-airstrikes
