David Cameron’s cabinet has approved a 12-point motion designed to pave the way for Britain to extend its involvement in airstrikes on Islamic State targets from Iraq to Syria.



The motion, which is deliberately designed to reflect the motion passed by the Labour party at its conference in September, was approved unanimously by the cabinet at its weekly meeting, which was devoted entirely to Syria.

As the motion was published, Jeremy Corbyn increased the pressure on Labour MPs planning to support military action, warning them they may pay a political price and there was “no hiding place” for them.

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The hour-long cabinet meeting, which was addressed by at least 20 ministers, also agreed to clear the entire business of the House of Commons on Wednesday to allow a 10-and-a-half-hour debate on Syria. The weekly session of prime minister’s questions has been scrapped, as has the monthly session of Cabinet Office questions. This means the Syria debate will start at 11.30am and will be wound up by the foreign secretary, Philip Hammond, before a vote at 10.30pm.

Cameron made an appeal to MPs across the House of Commons to support him in his attempt to defeat Isis as part of what he described as a “broader strategy” to build a political settlement in Syria.



Speaking after the cabinet meeting, the prime minister said: “I will be making the arguments and I hope as many MPs across all parties will support me as possible. We had a meeting of the cabinet this morning and have agreed the motion that will be put in front of the House of Commons.

“That motion talks about, yes, the necessity of taking military action agains Isil in Syria as well as Iraq, but it is part of a broader strategy. It’s about politics and diplomacy and humanitarian aid, all of which we need to bring to bear to bring peace to Syria, but to make sure we protect our national interest of fighting against this appalling terrorist organisation.”

The prime minister said he had led the process carefully in the run-up to the vote because the danger faced by Britain’s armed forces preyed on his mind. “This has been a very deliberate and proper process – a cabinet meeting, legal advice, a proper motion in front of the House of Commons, 10-and-a-half-hours’ debate tomorrow in the House of Commons and obviously we should think of our brave armed forces and their families for the risk that they take on our behalf. That obviously preys very heavily on my mind.”

Corbyn rejected the claim by Downing Street that the motion incorporated the Labour party conference motion on the grounds that the recent UN security council resolution had not been agreed under the chapter seven procedure.



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The Labour leader highlighted the bitter divisions at the highest level of the party when he said that the shadow foreign secretary, Hilary Benn, and other supporters of airstrikes would be guilty of approving the killing of civilians in Syria.

Speaking on the Jeremy Vine Show on BBC Radio 2, Corbyn said of Benn: “His belief is that we can get rid of Isil by bombing them. My reply to him and everybody else that supports bombing: when you bomb a town like Raqqa – where there are several hundred thousand people living there, who may or may not wish to be under Isil control, indeed many are trying to escape from there – we are going to kill people; we are going to kill people in their homes by our bombs. I think we should be very careful about that.”

Corbyn explained why he was allowing his MPs a free vote. “I am saying to every MP: you make up your own mind, there is no hiding place behind a whipping arrangement or not: your decision, on behalf of your constituents, whether or not we should commit British troops into yet another war in the Middle East with no endgame in sight, no proper plan in sight, a mythical 75,000-strong apparently unknown Free Syrian Army operation which is also infiltrated by a lot of jihadist elements. We are going into a very dangerous situation altogether.”

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The main contributions at the cabinet meeting that agreed the motion came from Theresa May, who addressed national security issues, Michael Fallon, who outlined the UK’s military capabilities, the attorney general, Jeremy Wright, who outlined the legal basis, and the international development secretary, Justine Greening, who spoke about plans for humanitarian stabilisation in Syria.

The motion says Isis presents a direct threat to the UK and quotes the recent UN security council resolution to say that it constitutes an “unprecedented threat to international peace and security” and to say that member states should take “all necessary measures” to prevent terrorist acts by Isis. It also says that the increased military action is legal, in line with the UN charter.