Senior Labour members may quit over Syria action - BBC

November 27, 2015 10:03 AM

On Thursday, Prime Minister David Cameron said it was time to join air strikes against militants in Syria because Britain cannot "subcontract its security to other countries" and urged lawmakers to give their support for military action.

Senior Labour members may quit over Syria action - BBC

Several senior members of Britain's main opposition Labour Party may resign if they are forced to vote in line with their leader's view that the country should not extend air strikes to Syria, the BBC reported on Friday.

The BBC said an unnamed member of Jeremy Corbyn's 'shadow cabinet', the body whose members follow portfolios mirroring those of the government, had warned people could quit after the Labour leader said he could not support the government's case for bombing Islamic State militants in Syria.

On Thursday, Prime Minister David Cameron said it was time to join air strikes against militants in Syria because Britain cannot "subcontract its security to other countries" and urged lawmakers to give their support for military action.

After losing a vote in parliament on strikes against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in 2013, Cameron must convince some members of his Conservative Party and some Labour lawmakers that a bombing campaign was needed.

Corbyn, a veteran anti-war campaigner, wrote to his lawmakers late on Thursday to say Cameron had not made a convincing case and he could not support action -- a viewpoint not shared by several of his shadow cabinet.