Croydon MPs divided on Syria action

Conservatives Gavin Barwell and Richard Ottaway each voted in favour of a motion that would have made strikes on President Bashar al-Assad's regime possible, while Labour's Steve Reed voted against. 

The Government's motion was defeated 285-272 in the House of Commons, in what the opposition hailed as a humiliating defeat for Prime Minister David Cameron.

MPs were recalled early from their summer break to debate possible militarily intervention following a chemical weapons attack, thought to have been launched by the Syrian regime, which killed hundreds of people in Damascus on August 21.

Mr Barwell, MP for Croydon Central, said the "vast majority" of the constituents who contacted him had urged him not to support military action.

But he added: "[I]f the Assad regime has used chemical weapons on its own citizens and it is allowed to get away with that, it sends a terrible message both to that regime and to other authoritarian regimes around the world.

Croydon MPs Garvin Barwell (left) and Steve Reed were split over military action in Syria

"History teaches us the danger of democracies not taking a stand against aggression and clear breaches of international law."

Steve Reed, Croydon North MP, described the motion as an "ill-judged attempt to rush into war without laying out the basis or objectives".

The Prime Minister accepted defeat after last night's vote, promising to respect the will of Parliament and ruling out Britain joining in US-led strikes on Syria. 

More than 100,000 people are thought to have died in the civil war which has torn apart the Middle-Eastern country over the last two years.

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