Jeremy Corbyn has said that Britain must not be “drawn into responses that feed a cycle of violence and hate” following the terror attacks in Paris.
The Labour leader told a regional party conference in Bristol on Saturday that governments “must not keep making the same mistakes” following atrocities such as the series of attacks in the French capital that left 130 people dead.
However, Corbyn said Labour would back every necessary measure to ensure Britons were safe. “The dreadful Paris attacks make the case for a far more urgent effort to reach a negotiated settlement of the civil war in Syria and the end to the threat from Isis,” he said.
“It is the conflict in Syria and the consequences of the Iraq war which have created the conditions for Isis to thrive and spread its murderous rule,” he added. “For the past 14 years, Britain has been at the centre of a succession of disastrous wars that have brought devastation to large parts of the wider Middle East. They have increased, not diminished, the threats to our own national security in the process.”
Corbyn had been due to give his speech last weekend but cancelled it in the wake of the Paris attacks.
The Labour leader’s comments come as David Cameron seeks to build cross-party support for UK airstrikes against Islamic State in Syria. There is no schedule for a parliamentary vote on airstrikes but the prime minister could move as soon as this week.
The opposition leader is facing mounting demands to allow MPs a free vote. The shadow chancellor, John McDonnell, told LBC on Saturday that MPs should have a free vote on Syria, directly contradicting Corbyn’s stance.
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