I will vote in favour of extending air strikes on ISIL in Syria.
Below are five key reasons why I support air strikes on ISIL:
1. Our allies, in particular the French and Americans, have asked for our help. As we have done in the past, we should stand shoulder to shoulder with our allies in fighting evil. We are just as much victims and targets as they are.
2. The UK has specialist skills, weapons and expertise that are not currently at the disposal of the coalition of forces conducting air strikes in Syria. In particular we have state of the art Brimstone guided missiles that enable precision bombing, thereby reducing the chance of innocent people being killed or injured by bombing. The UK reconnaissance equipment is also highly desired by our allies.
3. Expert advice has been given to the Prime Minister from military and security officials who have said that the UK is already a target for terrorist attacks. We will be safer if we participate in bombing and therefore take on the terrorists than if we did not participate.
4. The Prime Minister has announced that there is a plan for after the bombing. The UK has already committed to at least £1billion in additional aid to help with the reconstruction of Syria and we hope that our allies will also make significant commitments to the reconstruction efforts.
5. We are extending something we are already doing – we are already conducting air strikes on ISIL in Iraq, but not one inch over the border in Syria. ISIL does not recognise that there is a border here. It defies logic to be conducting bombing on one side of a line in the sand and not on the other against the same target.
When I became an MP I knew that one of my responsibilities may be deciding on whether we go to war or not, and putting our armed services in the line of fire – potentially risking their lives. It is a heavy responsibility that I take very seriously and I have listened carefully to the views and opinions expressed by constituents, experts and fellow politicians.
If we had not been asked by our allies, if we were not contributing incremental force, if the experts were advising otherwise, if we did not have a plan in place for reconstruction – and if we were not already bombing on the other side of the border, then I would be voting against military action.
Conducting air strikes is therefore a necessary, rather than desirable, conclusion and I shall be joining the Prime Minister in voting for the motion on Syria on Wednesday.