Syria and the Use of Chemical Weapons

Helen Jones Excerpts

Thursday 29th August 2013 Commons Chamber

[The Deputy Prime Minister]

As we have been explicit throughout and as the Prime Minister said at the outset earlier this afternoon, this is solely about the deterrence and discouragement of the further use of chemical weapons. Chemical weapons have been banned worldwide, and we as a nation have played an instrumental role in installing that ban since the 1920s, because of the atrocities of the first world war. That is what we are trying to uphold on humanitarian grounds.

[Helen Jones (Warrington North) (Lab)]

I am grateful to the Deputy Prime Minister, but he still has not answered the questions that have been put to him. Will he rule out the use of British bases for any action unless there has been a vote authorising it in the House?

[The Deputy Prime Minister]

We have not been presented with any scenario—[Interruption.] With respect, the coalition Government have acted this week with complete openness about what we think is facing us, what evidence we have available to us and what the gravity of the offence was. We are not in any way trying to hide anything from the House. That is precisely one of the lessons that we have learned from 10 years ago. That is precisely one of the lessons that we have learned from Iraq.