Jeremy Corbyn has said the UK must lead at the United Nations security council to bring the US and Russia together to end the conflict in Syria, insisting it is “never pointless” to push for UN involvement.

The Labour leader and his Liberal Democrat counterpart, Vince Cable, were to receive a security briefing from the government on Friday afternoon. Corbyn insisted in an interview earlier in the day that he wanted to see the evidence of who was behind the apparent chemical weapons attack in Douma.

The French president, Emmanuel Macron, has said his country has seen evidence the attack was carried out by Bashar al-Assad’s government, and Theresa May has said her administration considers it highly likely Syrian forces were behind it.

Corbyn said those who had perpetrated the attack should be held responsible, but that judgment should wait until after a UN investigation.

“It’s up to the UN as the primary actor in the international community to find out who did it. I want to know who did it. If there is proof the regime did it, they must be held responsible. If there’s a proof anybody else did it, they must be held responsible,” he said.

Corbyn had requested the security briefing on privy council terms, which are normally granted to opposition leaders at the government’s discretion on matters of national security.

Q&A What are the military options in Syria? Show In theory there are three alternative responses - the first a punitive strike such as the US attack on the Shayrat air base in April 2017 that saw 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles hit the the air base in response to a chemical weapons attack. The second level of attack is to seek to prevent Syria attempting to use chemical weapons again by destroying the relevant facilities, the means of delivery and imposing a punishment. The third level of activity is to seek to weaken the entire Assad military infrastructure or even attack Assad's presidential palace, as well as Syrian military headquarters. But there is no appetite in Western capitals to forcibly dislodge Assad from office, even if there may be an unspoken wish to change the way the Syrian government negotiates at UN peace talks in Geneva.



In his interview with Sky News, Corbyn pointed to the 2013 investigation into the chemical weapons attack in Ghouta and the agreement reached between the then US secretary of state, John Kerry, and the Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, to allow the destruction of large quantities of chemical weapons in Syria.

“I think we do need the same spirit between Russia and the US, and I hope that is going to be possible,” he said. “I would say very strongly to Russia and the US: ‘Stop blocking each other’s resolutions.’ Maybe a British-sponsored resolution on this would be a helpful way forward?”

Russia has repeatedly used its security council veto to block resolutions on Syria, including one on Tuesday that would have established an independent investigation into the suspected use of chemical weapons.

Corbyn denied that it was pointless, given Russia’s record, to continue to call for UN investigations. “It’s never pointless calling for that, anything that brings a cessation of the use of chemical weapons moves us nearer, if not totally to, a ceasefire and a reopening of the Geneva talks which has got to be the right way forward,” he said.

Corbyn did not say he regretted voting against airstrikes against Islamic State in Syria in 2015, but he did admit the action had “might have isolated and destroyed support for Isis”.

“I took those decisions with my eyes open and my views because my default position is to save human life,” he said.

Downing Street insisted on Friday that there was no set timetable for any potential military action to begin. May will come under increasing pressure from her backbenchers to grant a Commons vote on the matter if there are no further developments before the House of Commons returns from Easter recess on Monday.

Earlier on Friday, Corbyn also accused May’s government of “waiting for instructions” from the US on how to proceed in the Syrian crisis, but that Donald Trump was giving “alarmingly contradictory signals”.

Diane Abbott, the shadow home secretary, said the Labour party believed there was no military answer to the Syrian crisis. Asked whether Labour did not believe in military action in any circumstances, she said: “No. There was the second world war.”