Ruth Cadbury votes against military action in Syria

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Today, Ruth Cadbury MP voted against military action in Syria.

‘I voted against the move by the UK government to take military action in Syria last night. I received hundreds of emails from constituents and I am very grateful to all those who have taken the trouble to write. The vast majority of these urged me to vote against violent intervention and so I believe my decision will be welcomed by the majority of people here in Brentford and Isleworth.

I am appalled at the suffering, the violence and the loss of life in Syria, and in the horrific attacks on innocent people in Paris, and in Egypt, Beirut, Ankara, and Tunisia. I share the desire by the international community to take action to reduce the bloodshed, but I do not believe violent military intervention is the answer.

This is a matter of conscience and as a Quaker; our peace testimony is central to my values. There is no evidence that bombing makes anyone safer, it just creates more victims, more refugees and a greater desire for revenge. I want the violence and suffering to end and believe that to achieve this, we need to build co-operation and strengthen the international institutions which contribute to Peace.

I support nonviolent responses and believe we must do more to restrict funding channels for extremist groups and militias. We also need to challenge the extremist ideology that is seeing young men and women joining Daesh and which bombing will not prevent, in fact it may even exacerbate. A bombing campaign risks drawing the UK ever further into a war we do not want.’