Tulip Siddiq may leave Shadow Front Bench over Article 50 vote

Tulip Siddiq, MP for  Hampstead and Kilburn, which covers three Brent wards, in a series of media interviews yesterday said she was prepared to lose her Shadow Front Bench position,  over Labour's decision to vote in favour of invoking Article 50.

She told the BBC's World at One:

 It is something I am considering not supporting and voting against because 75% of the population in Hampstead and Kilburn voted to remain.

If I’m representing the wishes of my constituents I have to make a decision accordingly and that’s how I’ll vote.
 

There are definitely things to consider about democracy and elections. I don’t want to run another referendum.

Meanwhile Caroline Lucas, co-leader of the Green Party made her position clear over the Surpeme Court ruling:

 This case is a win for parliamentary democracy, and a blow for those ministers who planned to railroad Brexit through without any proper scrutiny.

The spotlight now falls on MPs – and in particular the Labour Party – to properly scrutinise the Government’s plans and act accordingly. That must mean that Labour rethink the support they’ve given to triggering article 50 prematurely, and instead join those of us who refuse to be pushed into Theresa May’s artificial Brexit timetable.

It’s astonishing that Ministers ever thought it was right to trigger Article 50 without a vote in Parliament - and their battle in the courts really does expose a contempt for the democratic process within the Conservative party.

I will not be capitulating to the Tories over Brexit – and will vote against prematurely triggering Article 50 in the Spring. As the co-leader of a Party which stands for environmental, social and economic justice I will not support a Government offering no assurances to EU nationals living in Britain, threatening to turn this country into a tax haven and planning to throw us off the Brexit cliff edge by ending our membership of the Single Market and Customs Union.

Tulip Siddiq makes a passionate plea for her EU residents

Education the focus for campaigning this weekend

The National Union of Teachers will be out in force this weekend campaigning for the best education for all children and arguing for investment in schools and measures to reduce child poverty and inequality.

Saturday also sees a Labour offensive against the government's proposals on grammer schools with journalist Owen Jones and Tulip Saddiq  Mp for Hampstead and Kilburn due to campaign at Kilburn tube station from 11am on Saturday.

Referendum - Brent MPs react

Will Brent Council make a stand on forced academisation?

On March 26th the statement below was sent to Cllr Muhammed Butt, Leader of Brent Council and  Cllr Ruth Moher, Lead Cabinet member for Children and Families. I have had no response although other signatories may have done. 

 Statement by Chairs of Governors of Brent Primary Schools

We the under-signed are opposed to Government proposals to force all LA primary schools to convert to academy status because:

There is no evidence that this would improve the quality of teaching and learning in our school

It would remove local democratic accountability of schools through the local authority

It would further destabilise schools already affected by new curriculum and assessment demands and problems of recruitment and retention

The statement was also sent to our three local MPs, Dawn Butler, Tulip Siddiq and Barry Gardiner.

Dawn Butler wrote to Cllr Butt on March 29th: 

Dear Cllr Butt, 

I am writing to you in regards to my concerns about the Government’s proposals, announced in the Budget, to reform England’s schools system by instituting the forced academisation of all schools by 2020. 

The Government are claiming that the academies programme will transform education by helping to turn around struggling schools while providing the freedom for successful schools to build on their achievements even further. 

In practice, however, it seems that there is little substantive evidence to show that turning a school into an academy will automatically raise standards. Ofsted chair, Sir Michael Wilshaw recently criticised seven sizeable academy chains for failing to improve the results of too many pupils in their schools. 

I am concerned forced academisation will bypass consultation amongst parents, schools and communities particularly in local areas like Brent where vital ground-level knowledge is needed.

The Tories obsession with changing the school structure will do nothing to tackle the real problems facing our education system. A flawed teacher recruitment programme and retention crisis added to the widening attainment gap between poor pupils and their peers. Furthermore, I believe forced academisation will cause utter chaos for successful local schools, such as Wykeham Primary, who prove the very point that you do not need to be an academy to be a successful school. 

I want us in Brent to lead a fight back and bring schools back in to local authority control. I will fight the government and ask for money to make this happen. It is important that our schools work together.

Today I have also received letters from the Secretary of State for Education Nicky Morgan MP confirming that two further Brent schools, Oakington Manor Primary and Furness Primary, will be converted into academies, please see enclosed a copy of the letters. I hope you will share my concerns of this continued assault towards taking Brent schools out of Brent control.

Academies do not automatically equate to good schools.

I hope we can discuss this matter further, and I look forward to your reply. 

Yours sincerely, 

Dawn Butler MP

 Tulip Siddiq wrote back:

Many thanks for passing the below email to me.

Needless to say, I entirely agree with the three bullet points and I’ll keep you updated on Parliamentary work I do on this.

 As yet Barry Gardiner MP for Brent North has not replied.

Since then of course there has been a national petition against the forced academisation plans, statements of opposition from many councils, including Conservative shire councils and this weekend the unprecedented threat of industrial action by the National Association of Headteachers.

The Labour Group on the Local Government Association has published the following model resolution for councils that may help Brent coucnil make a stand:

 

Model Motion Opposing Forced Academisation
This council meeting notes with great concern the proposal in the recently published education White Paper, Educational Excellence Everywhere, which will force all schools to become academies, irrespective of each school's wishes.

This council meeting notes that the White Paper’s proposals –

-       would remove the requirement for schools to elect parent governors.

-       would require the transfer of land and buildings of such schools to central ownership by the Secretary of State.

-       do not include any say for parents and local communities over the future status of local schools.

-       would require over 17,000 schools to conduct costly and lengthy conversion exercises at an estimated national cost of over £1billion.

 *OPTIONAL ADDITIONAL COMMENT* In [NAME OF TOWN], the cost of converting the [INSERT NUMBER OF NON-ACADEMY SCHOOLS] non-academy schools would be £[INSERT RESULT OF CALCULATION – NUMBER OF NON-ACADEMY SCHOOLS x £66,000]. 

This council meeting further notes – 

-       over 80 per cent of maintained schools have been rated good or excellent by Ofsted, while three times as many councils perform above the national average in terms of progress made by students than the largest academy chains.

-       the invaluable role of parent governors and the local authority in acting as ‘critical friends’ to both support and hold to account head teachers and schools.

-       the comments of The National Association of Head Teachers that plans to force every school to become an academy presented “a particularly high risk to the future viability and identity of small, rural, schools.”

This council meeting believes – 

-       no single system of school organisation has a monopoly on success, and that a one size fits all model as proposed by the White Paper would not deliver the improvement in school standards and outcomes that this council wishes to see. 

This council meeting therefore resolves to – 

-       ask the Leader of the Council to write to the Secretary of State for Education expressing the concerns of the council as set out in this motion about the proposals to force all schools to become academies, asking her to demonstrate how the proposals will improve educational outcomes in [NAME OF TOWN].

-       ask the Leader of the Council to write to our local MPs expressing the council’s concerns and to seek their views on the proposal. 

-       engage with head teachers, school governors, professional representatives, parents, and the wider local community to raise awareness of the Government’s proposals.

Rebel Tulip Siddiq vows to keep fighting on HS2

The first stage of the HS2 route was approved by the House of Commons yesterday in just 37 minutes. Keir Starmer (Holborn and St Pancras) and Tulip Siddiq (Hampstead and Kilburn) rebelled against Labour's three line whip  and voted against the £56bn project.

In a message to constituents yesterday Tulip Siddiq said:

Today in Parliament, I voted against the High Speed Rail 2 (HS2) Bill that will devastate areas of Camden and Brent.

I have campaigned against HS2 for the past seven years as I believe it is an ill-thought out scheme that will lead to bedlam on our roads, disruption to the education of school children and a compromised local environment.

Further, these plans will cost taxpayers billions of pounds. I believe this money could instead be spent on projects that will actually bring real improvements to living standards across the country.

Having spoken against this Bill at the Select Committee, and again in today’s debate, I’d like to take this opportunity to thank residents who engaged with the lengthy and costly petition process. Though the Bill received support from across Parliament, it is your voice that will force HS2 to fulfil its assurances to compensate and mitigate the worst of the impacts.

My first priority as the MP for Hampstead and Kilburn is to protect residents in Camden and Brent. Therefore, I am proud to have voted against High Speed Rail 2 today in Parliament.

The scheme have now been granted permission by parliament, but I will keep fighting for mitigation for constituents.

This is what Keir Starmer had to say in the debate:

New clause 22 deals with Euston, which is in the middle of my constituency. It is not easy to convey to the House the devastating impact that HS2 will have on my constituency, but let me try. HS2 will come into Primrose Hill and crash through to Euston, destroying everything in its path.

Let me give the House the sheer numbers affecting my constituency: 2,986 people live within 60 metres of the construction site, a further 3,186 live within 120 metres, and 11,414 within 300 metres. That is 17,568 people in my constituency within 300 metres of the construction site. Some 220 family houses will be demolished, and up 1,000 people will lose their homes. Unless there is a plan for an integrated station at Euston, there is the risk that another 150 family homes will be lost, affecting another 600 people—1,600 people are at risk of losing their home.

Many of the family homes that are not destroyed will be affected by noise, and according to HS2’s own figures, 1,025 family homes—that is 4,000 people—will be affected by noise that requires mitigating measures. Measures are already in place to consider up to another 850 homes and another 3,400 people. Some 7,000 people in my constituency could need noise mitigation measures because of what will happen with HS2 at Euston.

That is not the end of it. If Euston is redeveloped, 3.5 million tonnes of spoil will need to be removed from the site, which is the equivalent of 26 miles of tunnelling for Crossrail. All that must come out of Euston, and there is no guarantee or assurance that that will be done by rail. The net effect for my constituents is the risk of 800 two-way lorry movements a day to remove that spoil, and 90% of those lorries will be HGVs.

That brings me on to air quality, which is notoriously bad in London. It is particularly bad in the Euston area, and the HS2 environmental statement indicates that HS2 will have a substantial impact on nitrogen dioxide levels in a third of locations in the Euston area. If that was not enough on its own—it will have a devastating impact on the constituency—let me throw in two further factors.

The first factor is time. The original HS2 Bill was premised on the completion of a new HS2 station at Euston by 2026. For my constituents, that seemed like a long time. In September 2015, the Government lodged “Additional Provisions 3”, their current plans for Euston. A new station is now to be developed in three phases. Stage A, to the west of the existing station, involves the construction between 2017 and 2026 of six platforms needed for phase 1. Stage B2, the construction in the second phase of further platforms within the existing station but not all of it, is intended to be completed by 2033. The redevelopment of the existing station, stage B2, is unfunded and unplanned, and may begin before or after 2033—half a station in twice the time.

Another factor—there are more I could add to this litany of devastation in Holborn and St Pancras—is that even in 2033, having endured a construction site for the best part of 20 years, my constituents will not see a complete and integrated station in their constituency. On 1 December 2015, Tim Mould QC, HS2’s counsel, outlined to the Select Committee that a new integrated station at Euston is:

“not deliverable within appropriate funding constraints” and that this is the assessment of

“the government, the Chancellor, the Prime Minister”.

There is no timetable for Government funding to complete the final phase. As a result of the lack of planning and integration, Crossrail 2, which hopes to have an integrated station, is now planning on the basis that it may have to build part of its station in Somers Town, removing 150 buildings and displacing another 600 people—half a station in twice the time, with twice the damage.

A child born next year in my constituency will grow up and leave home knowing nothing but construction work. A pensioner beginning retirement at 70 next year will live out their entire retirement knowing nothing but construction work around them. It is no wonder that at every meeting and everywhere I go in my constituency, anxiety is etched on the faces of everybody who talks to me about HS2. It is an appalling situation, one that is wholly unacceptable on any basis.

I was elected to represent the people of Holborn and St Pancras. It is my privilege to do so; it is also my duty. I speak to each and every one of my constituents when I say that I will stand with them and fight with them to resist the wholly unacceptable damage that HS2 will bring to our communities.

Now Tulip Siddiq says she won't show up to Save the NHS tomorrow

Thanks to  a Hampstead and Kilburn constituent for forwarding this. Cameron's Tories haven't got a huge majority, we are supposed to have a Left leadership in the Labour Party, but their MPs won't turn up on a vital issue. What would Bevan say?

Has anyone got a message from Dawn Butler?
 

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Good evening,

I am writing in response to your email, in which you asked whether I would attend the Second Reading of the National Health Service Bill on Friday 11th March. Thank you very much for taking the time to write to me about this.

I could not agree with you more that the Health and Social Care Act, which was passed by the Tory and Lib Dem Government in 2012, needs to be repealed urgently. Spending on private and other providers has gone through the £10 billion barrier for the first time in the history of our health system, and unnecessary costs to our NHS have skyrocketed: the implementation of the Act itself has cost the taxpayer some £3 billion. When the Prime Minister took office in 2010 he inherited a health system where patient satisfaction was at all-time high, but as today's newspaper headlines starkly show, he has squandered this legacy: the NHS recorded  its worst ever performance figures in January of this year.

Quite rightly, ever since this Act was passed there have been a number of attempts, mostly by Labour MPs, to repeal the harmful elements of this legislation. The NHS Reinstatement Bill is another such attempt, and many Parliamentarians have tried to get it passed into law. This is the second such attempt to secure its passage, and I regret given there is a Tory majority in the Commons, it will be voted down by Conservative MPs.

I would have attended the debate at Second Reading tomorrow, but I am afraid that I have a number of prior commitments in the diary which mean that regrettably, I will not be able to make it. I am holding my constituency surgery at JW3 Community Centre tomorrow morning – this surgery has been scheduled for more than a month. In the afternoon, I will be speaking at an event to encourage more women into politics at the Women of the World Festival (see: wow.southbankcentre.co.uk/whats-on/how-get-elected-1785). Were it not for these diary commitments, I would certainly have stood up to be counted on the day of the vote.

In any event, however, the only way we can secure the reforms our NHS needs is by unseating this Tory Majority Government. Last May, I stood on a Labour Manifesto which promised to repeal the Health and Social Care Act and to abolish the rules which force NHS commissioners to put contracts out to private tender. We would also have reversed the provisions which permit hospitals to earn up to 49% of their income from private patients. I still remain firmly committed to these principles, and I will take every opportunity as your MP to implement the change we need to save our health system.

Nevertheless, I do appreciate you drawing this debate to my attention, and I can only reiterate my full agreement with your concerns about the Health and Social Care Act.

Thank you again for getting in touch, and please do write back if you have any further queries.

Best wishes,

Tulip Siddiq MP

Labour Member of Parliament for Hampstead and Kilburn

To receive updates on my work in Parliament and across Hampstead and Kilburn, please click here to sign up to my eNewsletter.

Twitter: @tulipsiddiq

Website: tulipsiddiq.com

Barry Gardiner won't take part in Friday's NHS Reinstatement Bill debate despite sympathy with overall objectives

Like other constituents in Brent North I have written to Barry Gardiner MP to ask him to support the NHS Reinstatement Bill when it is debated on Friday afternoon. I think most constituents would be understanding if he were to cancel his regular surgery in order to do something as important to the people of Brent as  help ing Save the NHS from current Conservatove attacks. Has anyone had a response from Dawn Butler or Tulip Siddiq?

Dear Mr Francis,                                                                                                                                     

Thank you for your recent correspondence asking me to be in the House of Commons for the second reading of the NHS Reinstatement Bill 2015 on Friday 11 March.

I very much regret that due to existing constituency commitments, I will be unable to be present. I am holding one of my regular surgeries for constituents this Friday, but I thought it would be helpful if I set out my views on the Bill.

As you may know, this Bill was introduced as a Private Member’s Bill last summer and as such, it is subject to the constraints associated with the parliamentary timetable. Even if the Bill were to receive its second reading this week (and there is no guarantee that it will even be debated), there is little prospect of the Bill becoming law in this session due to a lack of parliamentary time.

I am supportive of the overall objectives of the Bill. In particular, I support the principles behind duties outlined in Clause 1 of the proposed Bill – namely restoring accountability to the Secretary of State for the delivery of health services and the requirement that a comprehensive health service continues to be provided free of charge at the point of use.

The encroaching privatisation of the NHS must be halted and decisions about NHS services should never be called into question by any international treaties or agreements, such as the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP).

However, I am concerned that some of the other parts of this Bill would require another wholesale reorganisation of the health service. The recent top-down reorganisation of the NHS, brought about by the Coalition’s Health and Social Care Act 2012, threw the system into turmoil, cost over £3bn and eroded staff morale.

So whilst I support the broad objectives which lie behind this Bill, I am concerned about the scale of structural change and costs associated with any further major reorganisation of the NHS.

If the Bill were to proceed, I would want to see it amended so that it avoids the problems of a further reorganisation but implements only its key principles.

In line with our manifesto commitment at the last election, Labour is already committed to repealing the competition elements of the Health and Social Care Act 2012, and ensuring that patient care is always put before profits, and collaboration before competition.

Thank you for taking the time to contact me about this matter.

Yours sincerely,

Barry

Barry Gardiner MP
Member of Parliament for Brent North
Shadow Minister for Energy & Climate Change
Tel: 020 7219 4046 | Fax: 020 7219 2495
House of Commons - London, SW1A 0AA
www.barrygardiner.com

Barry, Dawn & Tulip please 'BACK THE BILL' ON Friday & Save Our NHS

Caroline Lucas  is calling on MPs to back her cross party NHS Reinstatement Bill which comes to the House of Commons on Friday.I hope to see all three of Brent's Labour MPs backing the Bill

Ask your MP to back to the bill: HERE 

The bill was supported by Jeremy Corbyn before he became leader of the Labour Party, and it is being backed in Parliament by the Scottish National Party and many individual MPs. The Labour Party has not yet made a public statement on it, but they are under pressure from health unions, grassroots NHS campaigns and tens of thousands of people who have emailed MPs asking them to back to the bill 

To guarantee that the NHS Reinstatement Bill is heard 100 MPs must be present in Parliament to bring about a vote on the Bill being debated before - that is why it is imperative that Barry Gardiner, Dawn Butler and Tulip Siddiq turn up to 'Back the Bill

Caroline Lucas, who tabled the cross-party NHS Reinstatement Bill, said:

This Friday MPs have a chance to show their commitment to our NHS. The NHS needs Labour to back this Bill. It’s the best chance we’ve got to bring people’s anger about what’s happening to our NHS into Parliament – and to then move towards reversing the failed privatisation experiment.

Across the country we’re seeing people making a stand against the ongoing marketization of our health service. The NHS is saddled with a wasteful internal market, and increasingly widespread outsourcing of services to the private sector. When you add this privatisation to the near-constant Government attacks on the NHS workforce, including forcing junior doctors to strike again today, you can see why so many people are supporting the NHS Bill.

The NHS bill would put the public back at the heart of the health service. MPs now have a chance to put their commitment to a public NHS into action by backing this bill on 11 March.

If we work together we can save our crisis ridden health service for future generations.

The NHS Reinstatement Bill would reverse the creeping marketisation of the health service and reinstate the NHS based on its founding principles – putting the public back at the heart of the health service. In practical terms that means simplifying the health service and removing the unnecessary complication introduced in 1991 (and reinforced in recent years) which fragmented the NHS by forcing services to go into competition with each other to win contracts.

The Bill would bring back health boards who would look at what services are needed in each local area and then provide them. The Bill also reinstates the Health Secretary’s duty to provide services throughout England - which was severed in the 2012 Health and Social Care Act.

Ask your MP to 'stick around' next Friday for the vital NHS Reinstatement Bill

Next Friday March 11th  Caroline Lucas will take the NHS Reinstatement Bill back to the House of Commons. [1] I have emailed and tweeted Barry Gardiner MP  to ask him to attend the debate.  I hope others will do so for their constituency MP.

The private members bill has received cross-party support and has among its signatories Jeremy Corbyn, who signed up before becoming Labour Party leader.

The bill would reinstate the secretary of state’s responsibility for the health of UK citizens, something the Health and Social Care Act removed. It would fully restore the NHS as an accountable public service by reversing 25 years of marketization in the NHS.

Many MPs return to their constituencies on Thursday nights but thousands of people have signed a petition urging their representatives to vote in favour on the NHS Reinstatement Bill next Friday. [2]

Caroline Lucas MP said:

I hope that MPs stick around next Friday to have a say on the future of our health service.

This mobilisation of grass roots campaigners and NHS staff is hugely inspiring. Across the country we’re seeing people making a stand against the ongoing marketization of our health service. The NHS is saddled with a wasteful internal market, and increasingly widespread outsourcing of services. When you add this privatisation to the near-constant Government attacks on the NHS workforce you can see why so many people are supporting the NHS Bill.
 
The NHS bill would put the public back at the heart of the health service. MPs now have a chance to put their commitment to a public NHS into action by backing this bill on 11th March.

If we work together we can save our crisis ridden health service for future generations.

[1] The NHS Reinstatement Bill:

[2] Petition in favour of the NHS Bill  

Tulip Siddiq outlines her concerns on Syria bombing

Tulip Siddiq, Labour MP for Hampstead and Kilburn has set out her views on Syria in a detailed letter to a constituent. I reproduce it below. I have offered, via Twitter, Barry Gardiner MP Labour, Brent North, an opportunity to put his views but have heard nothing back so far:

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I am writing in response to your email about the ongoing conflict in Syria, and in particular whether the UK should extend its air strikes against ISIL into the region. I appreciate the gravity of this issue, not least given Britain’s history of military conflict in the Middle East, so I hope you will forgive a substantive response reflecting the broad concerns you have raised.

To give some important background, the humanitarian impact of the ongoing conflict in Syria has been catastrophic. Various estimates suggest that since the civil war began in 2011, some 210,000-320,000 people have been killed, some 7.6 million have been internally displaced within Syria, and a further 3.9 million have fled the country as refugees. This is the worst humanitarian crisis in decades, and it is clear that many factions in this conflict,  not least the Assad regime, are guilty of war crimes.

This is now a complex and fast-developing conflict involving a range of internal factions, each of which have support from various external actors. At present, reports suggest that Assad’s grip on the country is weakening. He has lost control of half his territory, having ceded lands in the west to Al-Qaeda-affiliated groups; in the north to more moderate opposition groups; and in the east to ISIL, who declared a Caliphate stretching from Syria to Iraq in June 2014. No longer able to draw revenues from Syrian oil fields, his regime has become dependent on financial support from Iran and Russia; and Shi’ite Hezbollah militant groups and Iranian Revolutionary Guards appear to be becoming increasingly influential in his army. Regrettably, the recent involvement of Russia, who are now launching air strikes against all of Assad’s enemies, even moderate rebels, looks set to bolster his regime, increase the death toll and, ultimately, prolong this bloody conflict even further.

As you will know, in August 2013, following the use of chemical weapons by the Assad regime, there was a push on the part of the British Prime Minister and the US to launch air strikes to support rebel groups in the country. There were two important Commons votes on military intervention in Syria. Although I was not an MP at the time, I would have voted against these two motions. Whilst the US did ultimately initiate a programme of air strikes in Syria, I was glad when Labour MPs joined with backbench Conservatives and Lib Dems to ensure, against the wishes of the then-Coalition Government, that the UK did not participate in these operations. Incidentally, I also personally marched against the Iraq War back in 2003. I remain mindful to this day of the tragic effects that this war has had on the people in the region.

Since the vote in 2013, the situation has developed even further. ISIL has emerged as a formidable and dangerous force in both Syria and Iraq, and indeed in September 2014, Parliament voted in support of a targeted international bombing campaign in Iraq to fight ISIL forces, in support of Kurdish forces and the incumbent Iraqi government. Reports from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) also suggest that the Assad regime has continued its use of chemical weapons, launching chlorine attacks in Syrian villages; and has also withheld a portion of its chemical weapons stockpile, failing to report it to the OPCW. Efforts to broker a peaceful settlement at the Geneva II peace conference in February last year have also failed, in no small part because of al-Assad’s intransigence.

In the House of Commons in July 2015, in light of the continued conflict, the Defence Secretary Michael Fallon MP suggested that Britain might consider extending its air strikes against ISIS to Syria, joining the existing US operation there. Thankfully, the Defence Secretary has confirmed that should the Government decide to push for military action again, there would have to be another Parliamentary vote. Although the Prime Minister went back on this plan some months afterwards, with the recent tragic terrorist attacks in Paris, it looks like there may soon be another vote on this matter.

Were a Parliamentary vote indeed to take place, I appreciate that I would have a very significant decision to make as your MP, and I thank you for taking the effort to raise your concerns with me ahead of this. Personally, I am concerned about some of the rhetoric people have been using in support of intervention, and I will be pressing the Government to explain more clearly their rationale for further military action. I have four main concerns, which I have outlined below.

Firstly, I feel that neither the Government nor some in the press quite appreciate the complexity of this conflict, and how the situation has changed since the Parliamentary vote of August 2013. Indeed, in my view, subsequent events have entirely vindicated the cautious, multi-lateral approach of Parliamentarians during the vote in 2013. MPs at the time highlighted the difficulty in distinguishing between moderate and extremist rebel groups, and warned that bombing strikes could intensify the conflict, the later emergence of ISIL as a key force in the region only confirms this. Indeed, it is curious that the renewed calls for air strikes are being justified on the basis of a need to combat ISIL even though, in 2013, the target was the Assad regime, the Government have refused to acknowledge this, and many Ministers are conducting themselves as if we are to simply repeat the vote of two years ago.

Secondly, and linked with this, I disagree with the attempts of some Ministers and others to conflate this issue with the ongoing refugee crisis. Military intervention against ISIL would not solve the refugee crisis, if it could, it would have do already, as the US and others have been bombing Syria since August 2014. Furthermore, the bulk of the displaced people in Syria are the result of Assad’s attacks and not those of ISIL bombing ISIL forces will do little to address this problem. Regrettably, scant regard is also being given to the fact that as significant as Syrian refugees are in the ongoing refugee crisis, they are not the only source of refugees: last year, Britain accepted more asylum applications from Eritrea and Pakistan than it did from Syria.

Thirdly, any action that is taken in Syria must be multi-lateral, and pursued at a UN Level. I agree with Labour Foreign Secretary Hilary Benn MP’s calls for a UN Security Council resolution on Syria. He is also right, inclusive in this resolution, to push for the referral of suspected war crimes to the International Criminal Court,  this should include Assad. As a way of resolving this bloody conflict, I support the formation of a unity Government in Syria comprising more moderate factions in the country.  It is clear from their gruesome conduct that neither ISIL nor Assad himself can play a part in this negotiated solution. But the only way to secure this is if we work with our UN partners to achieve it, and Hilary Benn was right to call on the Prime Minister to push for this at the recent UN General Assembly meeting in New York.

Finally, there is an important humanitarian element to the conflict in Syria, and I do not feel that enough is being done to help those who should be the key focus of our concern: the innocent Syrian civilians themselves. Whether they are still in Syria, have been forced to neighbouring states by war or have made the treacherous journey into Europe, they are deserving our help. I disagree with the Prime Minister’s decision to opt-out of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees programme to help the refugees in Syria, and also his decision to deny help to those refugees already in Europe. I have written him a letter calling on him to reverse his position on these twin issues. Hillary Benn MP was also right to call, as part of the UN resolution, for the establishment of Safe Zones within Syria to shelter those displaced by war and relieve the pressures on refugees.

Please be assured, therefore, that I will continue to monitor this situation closely and update you on future developments. I will press the Government on the need for humanitarian aid and a negotiated, multi-lateral solution to the conflict in Syria, and challenge Ministers and others on some of the points they have made in justifying military action. I also remain ever mindful both of the consequences of the 2003 Invasion of Iraq, and also the points raised by Parliamentarians at the important vote in August 2013.

Thank you again for contacting me regarding this issue, and do not hesitate to get in touch should you have any further queries or issues.

Best wishes,

Tulip Siddiq MP