- 13 minutes ago
- From the section UK Politics
The government does not yet have enough votes from MPs to back air strikes against Islamic State (IS) in Syria, Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said.
He told BBC One's Andrew Marr show he had been in talks with Labour MPs but "we've got to keep building the case".He admitted it would be harder to get the support if Labour ordered its MPs to vote against air strikes in Syria.
Labour's Jeremy Corbyn said he opposed the strikes but he had not decided whether to give his MPs a free vote.
Mr Fallon told Andrew Marr it was dangerous not to try to defeat IS with force.
"We also have to defend ourselves... we are already a top target," he said.
"There are always risks in war but there is a greater risk from not doing something about Isil and leaving our streets vulnerable to the kind of slaughter we saw in Paris."
Britain has so far refrained from bombing IS - also known as Isil and Isis - in Syria after MPs rejected a vote for air strikes against Syrian government targets in 2013. However, it is taking part in air strikes against IS in Iraq.
Mr Fallon said the prime minister had answered questions for two and half hours from more than 100 MPs on Thursday but admitted there was still more to do to convince them.
"You shouldn't extend military operations lightly," he said. "There are legitimate questions to answer and we're doing our best to answer them."
"I don't think it will solve the problem that is there," he said.
"There also has to be a recognition that if we bomb in Raqqa we are going to take out civilian lives, we may not in effect do very much damage to Isil and actually may make the situation worse not better.
"The experience of Libya where there was no follow-up plan shows these things can be very dangerous."
Asked whether Labour MPs - about half of whom are thought to support action - would be given a free vote, Mr Corbyn said: "No decision has been made on that yet, I am going to find out what MPs think.
"Obviously there are strong views on both directions. We will have a further discussion on this. We will make that decision not at this moment but later on."
Mr Corbyn said he had received 70,000 responses to a survey sent out to Labour supporters on Friday canvassing their opinions, and a decision would be taken "as a party".
Image copyright Reuters "We have listened. We're still listening. We've asked questions. Even last week on the day of the Autumn Statement I asked the chancellor what has been set aside for reconstruction and stabilisation in Syria. Their answer there came none.
"Unless they have the plan, which not just the SNP but many people want to see to avoid the anarchy of Libya, then of course we couldn't possibly support conflict in the current climate."
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