SDLP leader Colum Eastwood standing at the scene in the aftermath of an air strike in Gaza
THE leader of the SDLP Colum Eastwood says his party will be voting against the British Government on Wednesday in the debate over airstrikes in Syria.
The Foyle MLA has also hit out at British Prime David Cameron after he branded as “terrorist sympathisers” those MPs who opposed the strikes.
MPs gather today for a day lonog debate on a Tory motion calling for British war planes to carry out air strikes to start this week against IS or ISIL in Syria.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has given his MPs a free vote on the motion although he personally opposes the motion.
He has backing for his stance from SDLP’s three MPs at Westminster.
The vote is expected around ten o’clock this evening.
Said Colum Eastwood: “My colleagues in Westminster will not support the proposed military action in Syria.
“This complicated problem will only be exacerbated by brute force.
“Airstrikes on their own are not enough to combat the threat posed by IS, and in almost three hours in the Commons last week, David Cameron failed to demonstrate that he has developed any strategic plan which would follow.
“The war in Iraq which we voted against led to the formation of IS and similar action, we fear, would only create more difficulties down the road.
“If David Cameron gets his way, within hours of the vote the headquarters of IS in Raqqa will be hit by airstrikes and innocent civilians used as human shields will become collateral damage.
“There are all sorts of claims that airstrikes are a precise form of attack.
“Yet we know from experience in places like Gaza that they’re not. I’ve been at the scene of an airstrike the day after someone pressed the button.
“I know the devastation they can have. This is not the right way to deal with the threat from IS.
“The bar is higher after Iraq. We know the action we take now will have repercussions which is why the highest test must be placed on the Government’s plans. We believe it has not passed it.”
The Derry politicians said that David Cameron’s remarks describing those opposed to air strikes in Syria as ‘terrorist sympathisers’ were “appalling, inaccurate and offensive in the extreme”.
“Opposing military action in Syria that will kill innocents and can only feed the evil we all want to defeat is not sympathy with terrorists, it’s part of the lesson we have learned from decades of conflict.
“To describe people like Mark Durkan, Margaret Ritchie and Alasdair McDonnell as ‘terrorist sympathisers’ is absolutely galling.
“These are people who stood strongly against violence for over forty years at great personal risk while people like David Cameron enjoyed a life of privilege.
“His comments are totally despicable and he should withdraw them immediately.
“SDLP MPs will proudly walk through the voting lobbies with our colleagues in Labour, the SNP, Plaid Cymru and other parties to oppose military action tomorrow.
“We will not legitimise the trigger finger of a Prime Minister more concerned with the theatrics of winning a political victory over the Labour Party than the devastation that will rain down on innocents in Raqqa as they are used as human shields by vicious cowards in IS.”
