Further to the House of Commons vote on Syria action on Thursday evening, MP for Stone, Bill Cash said:

“I deliberately refused to support either the Coalition Government motion or that of the Opposition – and Parliament did so as well.

“My first priority was to the country and my constituents. The Coalition Government did not have a credible policy and strategy. Nor was there the compelling evidence which we had been promised. 

“The Joint Intelligence Committee merely concluded that it was ‘highly likely’ that chemical weapons had been used by the Assad regime and yet both the Government motion and the Attorney-General opinion asserted that the Assad regime had done so.

“There was no UN Resolution at all and Britain should not be taken into war in these circumstances.

“Everybody should abhor chemical weapons and the Assad regime’s brutal policies but going to war has to be based upon principle and overwhelming evidence.”