Labour remains opposed to the UK joining bombing raids against Islamic State in Syria but could support wider international military action without the need for UN approval, Lord Falconer, the shadow justice secretary, has said.
Falconer clarified the party’s position in the wake of the Paris attacks, as David Cameron came under renewed pressure to join the US, France and others in bombing Isis in its Syrian stronghold.
Isis has claimed responsibility for the atrocities, citing France’s prominent role in the military campaign in Syria.
Downing Street had all but abandoned efforts to seek a parliamentary majority for airstrikes in Syria because Labour and a number of Tory backbenchers oppose the move.
But some of the prime minister’s backbenchers, including Sir Gerald Howarth, a former defence minister, have said the Paris attacks are a wakeup call that mean the UK will need to play a greater military role in defeating IS.
Falconer, who also served as a minister under Tony Blair, said Labour still does not believe the UK joining the Syria airstrikes are the answer, but indicated on Sunday the party may be open to supporting involvement in wider military action – without the need for a UN resolution.
The shadow justice secretary told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show: “Just immediately bombing (the Isis stronghold) of Raqqa … would not be the answer. What is required is a plan that covers the whole of the Middle East but also deals with the Syrian situation.
“It cannot be done without there being a major international effort. That is what needs now to be looked at, and looked at as a matter of urgency. And it needs to be looked at in a way that convinces the people of Britain.”
He also said airstrikes would not be enough as part of international military efforts to defeat Isis, which has claimed responsibility for the Paris atrocities.
“You need a plan, and that plan has got to deal with the Syrian issue. I’m not urging troops on the ground, but ultimately Isil have to be defeated. It can’t just be from the air,” he said.
However, the party hinted at easing its position last month when the shadow foreign secretary agreed a statement saying: “Of course, we know that any (UN) resolution may be vetoed, and in those circumstances we would need to look at the position again.”Labour has previously said it would only support military action in Syria with UN agreement, which has not been possible so far because Russia will not countenance a solution that removes the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad.
Falconer confirmed this explicitly on Sunday, saying that Labour could support international action without formal UN approval, potentially including Nato, whose members regard an attack on one member as an attack on all under article 5.
“(IS) can only be defeated by the international community as a whole, if possible through a UN sponsored process, but if not that, then nations come together,” he told the BBC.
He added: “I think Nato will be a part of it. It is much too early to say whether it is appropriate or possible to evoke article 5, but Nato will be part of the group of nations that have got to come together to look at it.”
However , Diane Abbott, the shadow international development secretary, stressed the agreed Labour position was to require UN approval.
“As far as Labour’s policy in relation to Syria, we actually discussed this at party conference and we have a policy. We agree to bombing Syria first of all if there’s a UN resolution. Also, and this is my particular concern, if there’s a plan to deal with the refugees that will result from military action,” she told Sky News’s Murnaghan.
Blunt said the UK would face an increased terror threat if it joined the bombing raids on Raqqa but that was the “least respectable” reason among many others for not taking part.A number of Conservatives, including the Commons foreign affairs committee chairman, Crispin Blunt, are also standing firm against approving Syrian airstrikes without a wider international plan, arguing it would be merely a symbolic gesture.
He told the BBC’s Pienaar’s Politics that efforts to find international consensus on ending the war in Syria must be redoubled and that progress towards a transitional arrangement had been made at talks in Vienna.
After the attacks, the Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, one of the leading critics of the Iraq war, cancelled an engagement at which he was to warn about the dangers of the UK’s involvement in Middle Eastern conflicts.
He was due to say: “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.”
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