Theresa May puts her MPs on alert for crunch vote on Syria strikes

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Theresa May

• Theresa May prepares for a crunch Commons vote on Syria after she authorised air strikes against the regime.
• Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn will seek a vote at the end of an "emergency debate" on the issue.
• The UK government is leaving the door open to support future strikes against Assad.
• Significant numbers of Labour MPs set to rebel against their leader.

LONDON - Theresa May has put her MPs on alert for a crunch vote on the UK's involvement in Syrian air strikes after the Labour party signaled that they will attempt to force a vote in the Commons.

The prime minister authorised strikes against chemical weapons facilities in Syria in the early hours of Saturday morning without first seeking the consent of parliament.

The decision was a breach of recent historical parliamentary convention which holds that MPs must be given a vote on military action by the UK.

The Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn will on Monday push for a vote on the action at the end of a planned "emergency debate" on the issue called by the government this afternoon.

Corbyn opposes the current action by the US, UK and France and insists that any future intervention should only go ahead with the approval of the UN - where Russia holds a veto.

"Saturday's attack on sites thought to be linked to Syria's chemical weapons capability was both wrong and misconceived," the Labour leader writes in the Guardian today.

"It was either purely symbolic - a demolition of what appear to be empty buildings, already shown to be entirely ineffective as a deterrent - or it was the precursor to wider military action. That would risk a reckless escalation of the war."

However, in a statement to MPs May will insist that the government could not "wait to alleviate further humanitarian suffering caused by chemical weapons attacks."

"Let me be absolutely clear: we have acted because it is in our national interest to do so," she will add.

"It is in our national interest to prevent the further use of chemical weapons in Syria - and to uphold and defend the global consensus that these weapons should not be used.

"For we cannot allow the use of chemical weapons to become normalised - either within Syria, on the streets of the UK or elsewhere."

The Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson on Sunday left the door open for future strikes against Syria, should Assad use chemical weapons again.

Conservative MPs have been put on a "three line whip" to attend today's debate under the expectation that Labour and other opposition parties will force a vote.

The decision on whether to hold a vote will be taken by the Commons speaker John Bercow. May is likely win any vote that is held with a significant number of Labour MPs likely to support the government in opposition to Corbyn's anti-war position.