Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn during the London Climate March as part of march events around the globe | Getty Corbyn goes for conscience vote on Syria Labour leader maintains air strikes are not the answer.

Jeremy Corbyn will allow Labour MPs to vote with their conscience on Prime Minister David Cameron's plan to begin bombing ISIL in Syria, though the Labour leader still opposes the strikes.

The decision underscores the rift within Labour. Senior members of the shadow cabinet, including Shadow Foreign Secretary Hilary Benn and Deputy Leader Tom Watson, support the strikes.

No date has been set for the vote, but Cameron has said he will not bring the motion forward unless he can be assured of its success. A minority of Tory MPs oppose the move, as does the Scottish National Party, which is the third largest group in the House of Commons. That makes the support of Labour MPs crucial.

Corbyn wrote to Cameron Monday, asking for assurances that the government will allow a two-day debate on the motion to allow air strikes — a move which would likely push the vote to next week.

Earlier this month the House of Commons’ foreign affairs committee raised objections to bombing in Syria, which Cameron addressed in a three-hour debate in the Commons last week.

“It is wrong for the United Kingdom to sub-contract 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," Cameron's response to the committee read.

Asked by the BBC's Andrew Marr Sunday if he thought bombing in Syria was justified in any circumstances, Corbyn said: "I don't think it will solve the problem that's there." Instead, he favored supporting the Vienna talks for a political solution, and doing more to cut off ISIL's finances.

"Appalling as the events in Paris were, absolutely shocking, there has to be security response in Paris, in Brussels, in London and everywhere else, but there also has to be a recognition that if we bomb in Raqqa we’re actually going to take out civilian lives, we may not in effect do very much damage to ISIL, and actually may make the situation worse not better," Corbyn said.

Authors: