Greens and Liberal Democrats demand parliament vote over US use of UK bases
Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey and Green Party leader Zack Polanski have urged Prime Minister Keir Starmer to put the UK's decision to allow the US to use its military bases to a vote in Parliament.
The move comes amid mounting backlash from MPs, including in the Labour Party, to Starmer's announcement on Sunday night that the US will be allowed to use British bases for the purpose of targeting Iranian missile sites.
Hours later a one-way attack drone struck Britain's RAF Akrotiri base in Cyprus on Sunday night - but is understood to have been launched before Starmer's announcement.
There were no casualties but military families have been reportedly evacuated - along with residents in the Akrotiri neighbourhood.
Lib Dem leader Davey said on X: "No matter how the Prime Minister tries to redefine offensive as defensive, this is a slippery slope. He must not let Trump drag Britain into another prolonged war in the Middle East.
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"Starmer must come to Parliament tomorrow, set out the legal case in full, and give MPs a vote."
Meanwhile Green Party leader Zack Polanski said: "The events of the past 48 hours have laid bare Keir Starmer's utter inability to stand up to Donald Trump - and this weakness could have serious consequences for the safety of British people.
"We now face being dragged into another illegal war in the Middle East which has now pulled in multiple countries. People in this country do not want this and it must not be allowed to happen.
Polanski added: "Starmer must withdraw permission for the US to use UK bases to launch airstrikes on Iran and parliament must be given a vote on any UK involvement."
'Very disappointed in Keir'
Starmer is being hammered from all directions. On Monday morning The Telegraph quoted US President Donald Trump saying he was "very disappointed in Keir" for initially blocking the US from using the joint UK-US military base on Diego Garcia in the Chagos Islands to strike Iran.
Trump said Starmer "took far too much time" to change his mind.
"That’s probably never happened between our countries before,” he said, adding: “It sounds like he was worried about the legality.”
On Sunday, Starmer said in an address from Downing Street that the only way to stop the threat from Iranian missiles "is to destroy the missiles at source, in their storage depots or the launchers which are used to fire the missiles.
"The United States has requested permission to use British bases for that specific and limited defensive purpose," Starmer said.
"We have taken the decision to accept this request to prevent Iran from firing missiles across the region, killing innocent civilians, putting British lives at risk and hitting countries that have not been involved."
Since then Starmer has come under fire from Labour MPs.
Former Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell questioned the idea that the bases would be used only for defensive action, telling the BBC: "Now we're putting our military facilities at use by the Americans for an aggressive action.
"Although they're arguing that this will be an attack on missile sites, it's actually in aid of what is a regime change, because that's what Donald Trump has said this is all about."
Labour MP Richard Burgon said: "I am deeply alarmed that British military bases will be used in Trump's bombing of Iran - these attacks violate international law.
"The UK government should be focused on de-escalation, diplomacy and a ceasefire - that's the best way of keeping people safe, not following Trump."
Kim Johnson, another Labour MP, said: "Using British bases for unlawful action is short-sighted. We must reject such divide-and-rule tactics driven by military aggression."
Farage backs US navy involvement
Former Labour leader and Your Party MP Jeremy Corbyn called Starmer's decision shameful and said that Britain has been "dragged into another war because our Prime Minister would rather appease Donald Trump than stand up for international law".
Meanwhile Reform UK and the Conservative Party are attacking Starmer over his delay in allowing the US to use British bases.
Reform leader Nigel Farage said on Monday morning that Starmer's inaction was "frankly pathetic".
He continued: "I think to say to the Americans that they could not use UK bases or Diego Garcia to carry out any of their missions is something that the president has responded to by saying already that he’s deeply disappointed. I suspect that, for once from Trump, is actually a mild understatement.
"And I do believe that Starmer’s actions don’t just threaten the special relationship, but probably he has posed or did pose a major threat to Nato."
Farage has backed the US goal of forcing regime change in Iran and said on Monday morning it would mark a "great liberation".
He said he would support the involvement of the RAF, the Royal Navy and the intelligence services in the conflict.
But he said to deploy "boots on the ground" in Iran would be a "huge mistake".
"Even if we wanted to do it, we don’t have the operational capacity to attempt anything on that scale that would be meaningful at all. I don’t want us to get dragged into it, but there is a heck of a lot what we can do to help and support our allies on this."
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch claimed on Monday morning that it "took Iranian missiles hitting allies in the Middle East and a UK base in Cyprus before Starmer finally approved the use of our bases", although in reality a drone hitting Cyprus came hours after Starmer's announcement.
Badenoch criticised the government for refusing to say whether it supports the US action against Iran, suggesting that this is because of Muslim voters in the wake of Labour's defeat by the Greens in the Gorton and Denton by-election.
She said that "particularly in the wake of the by-election last week, the Labour government are too scared to say what is obvious to the rest of us".
"In towns and cities across Britain there are large blocs of voters – that Labour see as their voters – whose political loyalties are swayed by conflicts in the Middle East, not the British national interest."
She added: "So we watch our prime minister and Cabinet ministers squirm and obfuscate in interviews, because they cannot say what needs to be said because too many of their voters do not want to hear it."
The US will now likely use the joint UK-US military base on Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean Chagos Archipelago. The base places US bomber aircraft within 5,300km of Iran.
Iran's Shahed-136 kamikaze drones have the range to attack Diego Garcia, which houses around 4,000 people, mostly US military personnel and contractors.
The UK also has airbases in Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Oman and Cyprus.
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