110 MPs sign cross-party amendment against air strikes in Syria

It is thought 110 MPs from six parties have signed SNP Westminster leader Angus Robertson and Tory MP John Baron’s amendment to today’s motion on air strikes on terrorist forces in Syria.

The motion is intended to block Prime Minister David Cameron from getting backing for military action.

The House of Commons timetable has been cleared for over ten hours for the debate, in which Cameron will make the case for the attacks as “only one component of a broader strategy” to tackle so-called Islamic State.

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Last night the Commons’ Foreign Affairs Committee said Cameron “has not adequately addressed concerns” over his strategy, in a report on the Prime Minister’s evidence. The Committee voted four to three to state their misgivings, including Conservative MPs Baron and Andrew Rosindell.

Nicola Sturgeon has already said the SNP will vote against, but Robertson’s motion has also been backed by the SDLP, Plaid Cymru and Green MP Caroline Lucas.

SNP Foreign affairs spokesman Alex Salmond said: "Of course everyone wants to see the end to Daesh, but the UK government has been running scared from scrutiny on their plans which don’t stack up. We don’t know how the UK government plans to secure peace in Syria and what ground forces there will be. We know the UK previously spent 13 times more bombing Libya than on its post conflict stability and reconstruction."

Shadow Scottish secretary Ian Murray has written to constituents to say he will vote against air strikes, but it is thought as many as 50 rebel Labour MPs will vote for military action after leader Jeremy Corbyn gave them a free vote.

Cameron, meanwhile, is applying the party whip. “You should not be walking through the lobbies with Jeremy Corbyn and a bunch of terrorist sympathisers," he told his MPs.

The Liberal Democrats said their eight MPs, including Orkney and Shetland MP Alistair Carmichael, would support the government in the vote.