Burnham warns PM against 'bouncing' MPs into extending airstrikes to Syria
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Version 0 of 1. David Cameron will show a lack of respect to Britain’s armed forces if he tries to “bounce” parliament into supporting an extension of British airstrikes against Islamic State targets from Iraq to Syria, Andy Burnham has said. In a speech setting out his approach to foreign policy, the Labour leadership contender said he would give serious consideration to supporting an extension of the airstrikes to help defeat the “vile and evil organisation”. But Burnham said the government should not hold any vote before it has answered a series of questions covering the legality of an extension of the military campaign, how the airstrikes would support local ground forces and on post-conflict plans. Speaking at the Royal United Services Institute in Whitehall, Burnham said: “These are major questions that the government has not yet answered. And, for that reason, to try to bounce the opposition into a vote on an issue of this importance without fully answering these points would be disrespectful to our forces and to the country. We will give any proposition careful consideration whilst recognising the danger of doing something just to be seen to be doing it; this has been the basis of many foreign policy mistakes.” The intervention by Burnham, which echoes similar comments by Yvette Cooper, means that the prime minister would struggle to win parliamentary support for an extension of the airstrikes if he calls an early vote. Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour leadership frontrunner, is an opponent of airstrikes. The guaranteed opposition of the SNP’s 56 MPs, as well as a rebellion by as many as 20 Tory MPs, means that the prime minister would need a sizable number of Labour MPs to prevail. Downing Street had indicated in the early summer that the prime minister was interested in staging a vote in September to test the new leader of the Labour party. Michael Fallon, the defence secretary, said in early July that it was illogical to launch strikes against Isis targets in Iraq but not in Syria. The prime minister won parliamentary approval for the airstrikes against Isis in Iraq last year after a request from the Iraqi government. But he stopped short of trying to extend the strikes to targets in Syria amid signs that he would fail to win Labour support. Related: Hundreds of civilians killed in US-led air strikes on Isis targets – report Burnham used his speech at RUSI to answer critics who say he has changed tack in the face of the surge in support for rival leadership candidate Jeremy Corbyn. He took issue with the veteran leftwinger by saying that he would resign from any shadow cabinet or cabinet that made the “profound mistake” of advocating a British withdrawal from Nato. Corbyn has called for Britain to leave Nato, though he recently suggested this would not be a priority. Burnham also said it would be wrong to leave the EU after Corbyn appeared, in the early stages of the leadership contest, to leave open the possibility of campaigning for a no vote in the EU referendum if the prime minister undermined workers’ rights in his negotiations. The shadow health secretary said: “I believe it would be a profound mistake for Labour to leave any question hanging about our membership of international bodies such as the EU and Nato. To do that would be to leave the many millions who believe in internationalism over nationalism without a political voice. It risks leaving the world more fragmented, more divided and less secure than at any point since the end of the second world war.” Burnham also said he would support the renewal of Britain’s Trident nuclear deterrent at the current size – four submarines to guarantee “continuous at-sea deterrent”. But he said he would aim to ensure that the renewal of Trident, due to be voted on by MPs next year, will be the last time that Britain renews its nuclear deterrent. He said he would use Britain’s chairmanship of the G7 in the next parliament to hold talks on speeding up nuclear disarmament. He said: “I am committed to the retention of a continuous at-sea deterrent and we will follow the advice of experts in terms of delivering that, who say current technology means four boats. At the same time, however, we should take another decision – to set the aim of making this the last time we renew our nuclear deterrent and with renewed resolve kickstart work to re-energise a process of multilateral disarmament.” |