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Resolution on Syria

23rd November 2015

DRAFT RESOLUTION
UK participation in military action in Syria

This [Branch / CLP] expresses our condemnation of the terrorist attacks in Paris for which there can be no justification, and sends condolences to the victims and their families.

We know of no evidence that military intervention has prevented the spread of terrorism, but it has contributed to the growing refugee crisis across Europe today.

We note the findings of the Survation opinion poll carried out in the aftermath of the Paris attacks in which only 18% of respondents believed military strikes against Isil made the UK more safe, and 56% believed they made the UK less safe.

We concur with the policy on Syria overwhelmingly adopted at this year’s Labour Party conference, which laid down four strict conditions to be met by the international community before Labour would support UK participation in military action:
• ‘Clear and unambiguous authorisation for such a bombing campaign from the United Nations’;
• ‘a comprehensive Europe-wide plan is in place to provide humanitarian assistance to the increased number of refugees that even more widespread bombing can be expected to lead to’;
• assurances that ‘such bombing is exclusively directed at military targets directly associated with Isil-Daesh’; and
• ‘military action to be subordinated to international diplomatic efforts, including the main regional powers, to bring the Syrian civil war to an end’.

We are aware of continued attempts by David Cameron to seek House of Commons support for UK participation in air strikes on Syria, without any of the above conditions being met. We are also aware that had the bombing campaign advocated by the British government in 2013 had been carried out, Isil-Daesh forces might now be in control of far more Syrian territory.

We applaud the Parliamentary Labour Party of 2013 for voting against Syrian air strikes, and call on today’s PLP to continue to oppose UK participation in a bombing campaign against Syria and to seek a negotiated and peaceful solution to the crises in the Middle East.

322 words

This resolution has been drafted by the Campaign for Labour Party Democracy

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