UK opposition parties criticise air strikes

The Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn has called the UK's military action in Syria "legally questionable".

In a statement on Facebook on Saturday morning, Corbyn said that "bombs won't save lives or bring about peace" and that the PM should have put the strikes to a parliamentary vote.

The Green Party co-leader, Caroline Lucas, also criticised the air strikes on Syria overnight and echoed Corbyn in saying Theresa May was merely following US President Donald Trump.

Air strikes on #Syria have done nothing to increase chances of peace so far & no evidence they’ll do so now. We need consistent foreign policy - stronger sanctions, more peace building, end arms sales to Saudi Arabia etc - and it needs to be set by parliament not US President https://t.co/fW79zwjBPx
— Caroline Lucas (@CarolineLucas) April 14, 2018

Nicola Sturgeon, the leader of the SNP, said that "the question that the PM has not answered is how this action, taken without parliamentary approval, will halt their use or bring long term peace," adding that, "Air strikes have not resolved situation in Syria so far - nothing I've heard persuades me they will do so now."

Air strikes have not resolved situation in Syria so far - nothing I’ve heard persuades me they will do so now. An international strategy for peace must be pursued - not a course that risks dangerous escalation. UK foreign policy should be set by Parliament, not US President.
— Nicola Sturgeon (@NicolaSturgeon) April 14, 2018

But the DUP, the Conservatives' partner in the minority government, said they supported the military action, which the UK undertook overnight alongside the US and France.

DUP MP Nigel Doods, according to the Belfast Telegraph, said: "The prime minister has the full authority, on the basis of all the information at her disposal, to order the type of military action which has been carried out this morning and we reject any suggestion that she was not entitled to do so."