said as much reiterating that all countries must act in line with the united nations charter which states action must be in self-defense all authorized by the united nations security council. the prime minister has assured us that the attorney general had given clear legal advice approving the action i hope the prime minister will now publish this advice in full today the summary notes references the disputed humanitarian intervention doctrine but even against this the government fails its own tests the overwhelming humanitarian catastrophe due to the civil war in syria is absolutely indisputable. but the foreign secretary said yesterday these strikes would have no bearing on the civil war and the prime minister has reiterated that today by saying this is not what these military

strikes were about. mr speaker does for example the humanitarian crisis in yemen entitle other countries to arrogate to themselves the right to bomb saudi airfields all their positions in yemen especially given their use of banned cluster bombs and white phosphorous mr speaker three united nations agency said in january that yemen was the worst humanitarian crisis in the world so will the prime minister today commit to ending support to the saudi bombing campaign and arms sales to saudi arabia only mission itself what assessment has the government made of the impact of bombing related military facilities where the regime is assessed to store chemical weapons what impact on the local people of chemical. being released into the local environment news footage shows both

journalists and local local people in the rubble without any protective clothing why does the prime minister believe these vessel strikes will deter future chemical attacks as the prime minister will be aware there were u.s. strikes in two thousand and seventeen in the wake of the use of chemical weapons in can on for which the u.n. o.p.c. w.-t. held the assad regime to be responsible in relation to the airstrikes against on him facilities the prime minister will be aware that the o.p.c. w. carried out inspections on both those facilities in two thousand and seventeen and concluded i quote that the inspection team did not observe any activities inconsistent with the obligations under the chemical weapons convention can the prime minister advise the house does she believe the o.p.c.

w were wrong in that assessment or does she have separate intelligence that the nature of those activities has changed within the last five months and in the lights of the chill cause inquiry does she agree with a key recommendation about the importance of strengthening the checks and assessment on intelligence information when it is used to make the case for government policies given that neither the un nor the o.p.c. w has yet investigated the attack it is clear that diplomatic and nonmilitary means have not been fully exhausted while much suspicion right clearly points to the assad government chemical weapons have been used by other groups in the conflict for example josh. which was reported to have used gas in aleppo in two . thousand and sixteen amongst other groups it is now vitally important that the

o.p.c. w. inspectors who arrived in damascus on saturday are allowed to do their work and publish their report into their findings and report to the united nations security council they must be allowed to complete their inspections without hindrance and i hope the u.k. will put all diplomatic pressure on russia and syria. and other influential states to ensure they're able to access the site in duma the bigger question must be that during the syrian conflict over four hundred thousand syrians estimated to have died in the conflict and the vast majority by conventional weapons as the prime minister indicated the u.n. estimates that thirteen point five million syrians are in need of humanitarian

assistance and there are over five million refugees it's more important than ever that we take concrete steps to hold and finally end the suffering acting through the u.n. the prime minister should now take a diplomatic lead to negotiate a pause in this a bar and conflict this means engaging with all parties that are involved in the conflict including iran israel russia saudi arabia turkey and the u.s. to ensure there is an immediate cease fire. we have mr speaker the grotesque spectacle of a wider political battle being waged by proxy with the syrian people used as pawns by all sides are first priority must be the safety and security of the syrian people which is. best served by di escalating this conflict so that aid can

get in so will the prime minister now we embark as i hope she will on a renewed diplomatic effort to try to bring an end to this conflict as she indicated in the latter part of a statement the prime minister states that diplomatic process is did not work this is not exactly true the initiatives negotiated by john kerry and sergey lavrov led to the destruction of six hundred tons of chemical weapons overseen by the o.p.c. w. . no one mr speaker disputes that such diplomatic process is a difficult and imperfect but that should not stop us from continuing diplomatic efforts the refugee crisis places a responsibility on all countries hundreds of unaccompanied children remain in europe and the u.k. has yet to take even in even the small numbers it was committed to through the dubs

amendment i hope that today the government will now increase its commitment to take additional syrian refugees will the prime minister make that commitment today by minister thank you thank you mr speaker if i can start off by responding to the comments of the leader of the opposition has made on the syrian conflict more generally because i everybody in this house recognizes the nature of the conflict and the impact that has had on the syrian people the millions of people who have been displaced either within syria or to countries in the surrounding region we have as the united kingdom as i said in my statement we are now the second biggest bilateral donor to the syrian rest for syrian refugees in the region at almost two point five billion pounds we've been very clear that we want we we believe. can help more people by giving that age in the region and we have been

able to support hundreds of thousands of children in the region by the age that we have given to them we will continue to do that and continue to support and continue to be grateful for all that is being done particularly by turkey lebanon and jordan to support refugees in the region this is a significant task for those countries and we are supporting them in that effort i also said the right on the gentleman also asked me to launch a new diplomatic effort as i said in my statement we will indeed be continuing the work in relation to this wider issue of the conflict in syria that means as i said continuing the fight against dietitian concluding the fight against irish it means our humanitarian work as i have said and continuing to press for humanitarian access and it also means supporting the international efforts to reinvigorate the

process to deliver a long term political solution in syria but it is necessary for all parties to be willing to come together to ensure that they can and to discuss and develop a long term solution for syria now let me come on to the specific strikes that took place at the weekend and the issue of chemical weapons right on what gentleman asked about the legal basis we have published the legal basis for our action and i've been very clear i went through the arguments in my statement this is about the deviation of humanitarian suffering that is a legal basis that has been used by governments of all colors it was used as i said in nine hundred ninety one and one hundred ninety two it was also used by the labor government to justify intervention in kosovo as part of the nato as part of the nato intervention he refers he refers to other areas of conflict in the world. can

i just say to him what sets this apart particularly is the use of chemical weapons . this is about alleviating the suffering that would come from the use of chemical weapons but i believe it is also important and in this country's interest and the interests of other countries around the world that we do reestablish the international norm that the use of chemical weapons is prohibited and we cannot allow a situation to develop where countries and people think that the use of chemical weapons has being allowed to become normalized and that and that is important for us all he talks about the o p c w and about the intervention of their investigation in duma as i said in my statement the problem is they are being stopped from their investigation into the regime and the russians are preventing them from doing that and more again the regime has reportedly been attempting to conceal the evidence by

searching evacuees from duma to ensure that they are not taking out of the region samples that could be tested elsewhere and a wider operation to conceal the fact of the attack is underway supported by the russians he talks about other groups that have and the possibility of chemical weapons being used by other groups as i pointed out in my statement this is it is understood that these chemical weapons were delivered delivered by barrel bombs barrel bombs are normally dropped from helicopters there is the evidence that i cited in relation to regime active helicopter activity in duma on the on the date in question and it is not the case that the groups that he has referred to have access to the helicopters and barrel bombs that will be able to ensure to deliver such a chemical weapons attack i think it is clear and it was on that basis that the government decided to. i act together with the united states and france and i think it is

important that this was a joint international effort you know that took place in relation to these strikes these strikes were carefully targeted at proper analysis was done to ensure that they were targeted at sites that were relevant to the chemical weapons capability of the regime we did this to alleviate further human suffering we targeted it on chemical weapons capability of the regime to take rate and deter that the willingness of the regime to use chemical weapons in future and i continue to believe that was the right thing to jail here. mr kennedy. the speaker i fully support the proportionate targeted action that we have taken the gates he cites and i hope the government would consider similar action we gave in future if anyone is so food issues to repeat chemical weapons attacks. we can all debate these matters but it takes

a real prime minister to actually face other yeah. but on the question of the parliamentary role i think the prime minister was not relying on the r. kerry narrowing to appreciation of the royal prerogative which no government has evoked in this country for over fifty years they've always come to parliament for debate and votes are possible on any military action and she shares there was a problem of time that surely once president trump had announced to the world what he was proposing a widespread debate was taking place everywhere including many m.p.'s in the media but no debate in parliament so would she consider shutting off once the immediate issues are over that crossed party commission of some kind to search out precisely what the role. all of parliament is

a modern try in the use of military power against another stage and what exceptions if any there can be to usual rule that the government needs parliamentary approval for taking grave action which would. come i thank my right honorable and learned friend for the comments he's made about the action that was taken in syria by the u.s. the u.k. and france he refers to the parliamentary position the decision to act was taken on the basis that first of all obviously an effort was made in the united nations security council to find put forward a resolution and to get that passed that would have enabled investigation and accountability for these chemical weapons attacks to be determined that was vetoed by the russians so that it was not possible to follow that diplomatic route and the timing was such that enabled proper planning to take place so that this was

a targeted and effective set of strikes that it was done in a timely fashion and also that it maintained the operational security of our armed forces and any prime minister who commits any of our armed forces into action of this sort must have a care for their safety and their security in doing so can i also refer my right honorable and learned friend to the ministerial statement in two thousand and sixteen on the war powers convention which said at the end of it the following after careful consideration the government has decided that it will not become a defying the convention in law or by resolution of the house in order to retain the ability of this and future governments and the armed forces to protect the security and interests of the u.k. in circumstances that we cannot predict and to avoid such decisions becoming subject to legal action it continues to say we will continue to ensure that parliament is kept informed of sickness. major operations and deployments of the

armed forces that is what i have done today i have come to parliament with a statement on the action that took place as i said in my statement parliament will hold me to account for the decision this is going to make a variable are heard. the speaker and i associate myself with the remarks of the prime minister on the sad demise of sergeant told rule and pass one can develop condolences to his family and friends can also thank the prime minister for the phone call ahead of the engagement at the weekend as well to advance a tough statement today all of us i think in this house have an absolute revulsion on the use of chemical weapons and we need to work here and internationally to make sure that we remove the scourge of chemical weapons from the landscape in syria and indeed and elsewhere. the government no seems that accepted this house needed time to be silly but why have we had to wait for today when the prime minister

called the cabinet meeting last week she should have recall parliament. mr speaker the prime minister leads a minority government as was the case with the action against diets in two thousand and fifteen this only happened with parliamentary approval here it was perfectly possible for the house to have been recalled and advance of saturday's morning's is strikes why was this not done and what the sis mean for the p.m.'s position is that our for the chemical attacks in syria will she continue to authorize military action without consulting and without the authorization of parliament. i'm glad to hear the leader of the opposition supporter calls for the war powers act because this is the best way to protect us from getting into the situation again mr speaker has the government learned nothing from the chilcote review once again. we've been

dragged into military action with little regard for the humanitarian situation on the ground and no long term strategic plan for the human suffering in syria knows no bounds hundreds of thousands dead millions fleeing for their license four hundred thousand civilians still trapped in appalling conditions deprived of food medicines and basic aid over thirteen million civilians and desperate need of humanitarian aid both the prime minister revisit the issue of refugees particularly child refugees we must do more than we have been doing here why was i actually taken before international weapons inspectors completed their investigation. in february the prime minister told me in this house that she was committed to finding a political solution for syria why then did the u.k. not support sweden's draft u.n. resolution calling for an international investigation to chemical stockpiles reportedly held by the city of e.g.

. mr speaker is the pm a surprise and concerned as i am at the u.s. president's language that the situation in syria was mission accomplished there she's not there could she agree with the u.s. president or the u.n. secretary general who like most of us is clear there is no military solution to the crisis the solution must be political. economical expressible say to divide on what he has raised a number of issues there on the question of refugees and particular child refugees and i recognize that this is an issue that has been of concern to members across this house for some time and has been raised in this chamber on a number of occasions obviously we have took the position that we could help and support more children more refugees in general men and women as well as children by act. in the region and that is why we have and as i've said we've become the second

biggest bilateral jona to the region but we also took the decision that there were a number of refugees who are particularly vulnerable who perhaps required particular medical support right to bring to the united kingdom under our commitment on the vulnerable refugees resettlement scheme which we have which from a persons resettlement scheme which we have been putting in place and continue to put in place there are a number of other schemes that we are operating to bring refugees children in particular here to the united kingdom but we continue to ensure that we are supporting the greatest number of possible of refugees by actually acting in the region and i think that continues to be what we should be doing he asked me about the issue of of parliament and it is it is i'm sure that he would recognize that it is the case that it is always necessary for the government to

be able to act in those circumstances where decisions need to be taken but to ensure that if a decision is taken which is not being discussed by parliament that opportunity for parliament to consider that to discuss it to ask questions on it is given at the first opportunity that is exactly what we have in this particular circumstance we have also we have also being as open as possible in terms of publishing the legal basis for which we have on which we have taken this decision making information available to a number of parliamentarians on the privy council basis and trying to ensure that we can provide the maximum possible briefing commensurate of course with the fact that some of the intelligence that we have of operation is not intelligence it is possible to share with parliament but we will be as open as possible with this parliament as i say. i will continue to answer questions from this parliament on

this issue mystery and duncan smith i said to my right on the friend that given the nature of our otago it of stopping syrians using chemical weapons further and of the need to take swift action i commend her for taking that notwithstanding the fact that others have criticized her for not coming to parliament coming to parliament is a must and the prime minister has done that today and will do it later on as well because i also raise the issue that these russians and the syrians are blocking the o.p.c. w. from going in to the targeted area and i understand there's a lot of cleanup and change taking place while that block is taking place at the same time so i have a simple question to ask or rather will friend given the confusion of some who are a bit uncertain about who is the greatest threat to world peace does she think that it is russia or america.

but can i say to my right honorable friend that i think people people are seeing from the actions that russia has taken in support of the syrian regime. but as as my right honorable friend has pointed out what we are seeing in syria at the moment in relation to duma is that efforts are being made to ensure that it is not possible for the inspectors to invent to be a p.c. to be to be able to go in and to ascertain the truth of what happened in duma we took a decision we assessed together with our allies and the assessment was agreed amongst the three parties that took place in these strikes that the all the the evidence that we had seen from open source reporting the reporting of n.g.o.s reporting the world health organization that this was a chemical weapons attack and as i've indicated a number of pieces of information and intelligence that showed that it was highly.

this was undertaken by the syrian regime but my right on will friend is right actually more could have been done by the if russia did not veto the resolution in the united nations security council it would be possible to make greater efforts on the ground to establish now what has happened in duma if russia and the regime were not blocking the opportunity for the open c.w. to go to the site and if efforts were not being made by the regime to ensure that material from the side is not available for that sort of analysis it is quite clear that every effort is being made and this is why i pointed this out in my statement in relation to comments the leader of the opposition has made it is perfectly clear that russia is preventing is stopping is blocking our opportunities to ensure that we can properly hold to account those responsible for chemical weapons attacks in syria vincent cable i also regret mr speaker the very prime minister did not seek the prior reproval of parliament especially as at least some of our arguments are

compelling but coming to a question of the member for russia cliff which he did announce is that if the syrian regime is now foolish enough to use its residual stocks to attack other holdouts like include does the prime minister intend to order fresh strikes or resume the words of president truck for a one off operation and mission accomplished. i say to be the right honorable gentleman but this was a limited and targeted set of strikes that took place with between the united kingdom the united states and and france the intention of those strikes in the targets targets were carefully chosen the intention was to degrade the chemical weapons capability of the syrian regime and to deter its willingness to use those chemical weapons. nobody should be in any doubt of our resolve to ensure that we cannot see a sit. where the use of chemical weapons is normalized. so my crew followed

the prime minister excited about all that was a con is there a pact chamber it's the first time m.p.'s have got together since easter break and dominating most of the past hour or so of the prime minister to resign and he's explaining to m.p.'s why she took the action that she did in order to approve strikes against syria on saturday without asking m.p.'s first she outlined a lot of what we've heard from the un to be honest over the past week or so of emergency security council sessions and the questions that she answered why did we not wait for the o.p.c. w she said she was confident that their intelligence would say that there were going to be further attacks and blame russia for vetoing. in the un security council the other accusation with a just following us order she said no it was in britain's national interest to act why didn't she recalled parliament and this is where most of the anger of m.p.'s has been particularly reserved on this she said that speed was essential in

cooperating with our partners to alleviate suffering and maintain vital security i'm also talking several times about the constitutional rules about whether she should or should not address parliament on that she's pretty convinced that she didn't have to the opposition definitely don't buy that jeremy corbin speaking after her said that parliament is accountable to the government is accountable to parliament not the united states and certainly not to the whims of the prime minister and called for changes in the law so that parliament is asked first before any military action takes place and that was echoed by a number of grandees from our own conservative party as well kenneth clarke is how pretty much every job apart from prime minister not happy the parliament wasn't consulted same for duncan smith a former party leader as well so the ire of m.p.'s in the house of commons right now directed at the reason they are not asking first before taking any action on syria will listen across the more of those questions taking place in the chamber it's bound to go on for another couple of hours yet if anything else comes from it really. you know now just to remind you how we got here in the early hours of

saturday morning the united states the u.k. and france carried out joint strikes against the syrian government the three allies say the operation was launched in response to an alleged chemical attack in the city of duma a week earlier although many western governments have blamed assad's military for that suspected assault they've not performed any clear evidence to support that claim. one of the targets of the u.s. led attack was a research facility near damascus the syrian government says it was a civilian object and we spoke to a technician who worked there and he said as to reason he was mentioning earlier on that the international chemical weapons checked the center several times but found

no signs of any violations. he said that you can see that nothing has happened here of i've been here myself since five there are no signs of chemical warfare agents this is a civilian facility and drugs and chemicals production technology was developed here for peaceful economic purposes o.p.c. w. visited this facility several times carrying out several thorough inspection the organization received a lot of help in its work and so did the members of its teams there was even a special place on the site allocated for the o.p.c. w.-o. so they could collect and package samples taken from places that had to be inspected. and inspectors from the global chemical weapons watchdog are currently in syria to try to investigate the alleged chemical attack but even before any conclusions have been drawn the u.s. envoy to the o.p.c. w says russia might have tampered with the attack site as according to a statement obtained by the voices news agency russia's foreign minister denies

those allegations more on that now from correspondent jacqueline vogel. well he flat out denied those accusations coming from the u.s. envoy saying that he guarantees that russia did not in any way tamper or manipulate the site of the alleged attack the u.s. envoy is referring to the fact that just a few days after this alleged attack took place russian military did send specialists to the site and searched the area and they said that they could find no traces of chemical weapons there and since then of course russia has been calling for an international independent investigation to take place on the ground especially given that the initial reports of this alleged attack were coming from groups like the white helmets which has a very questionable reputation now the o.p.c. w. the organization for the prohibition of chemical weapons did arrive to syria already on saturday but it seems that they have yet to begin their investigation now sergey lavrov also called out the reliability of the evidence that the.