Labour has been accused of presiding over “chaos” in its response to the Syria crisis.
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp tore into the Government’s handling this morning, accusing ministers of showing “complete confusion” yesterday.
It came after a series of huge blunders by senior members of the Government, including Keir Starmer, David Lammy and Pat McFadden.
Speaking on Sky News this morning, Mr Philp blasted: “It’s a very fluid situation. I don’t think the Government should rush into anything.
“They should just take their time to see how the facts on the ground unfold and see how Hayat Tahrir al-Sham conduct themselves.
“We saw the Government in complete confusion yesterday. Pat McFadden was on TV yesterday morning saying one thing, then Keir Starmer and David Lammy said another thing.
“Later in the day Yvette Cooper was announcing the suspension of asylum processing [for Syrians] while David Lammy at the same time in the House of Commons said the exact opposite.”
He concluded: “The British government, I’m afraid, were in a bit of chaos yesterday.”
The Shadow Home Secretary insisted the Government must wait and see who takes power in Syria, pointing out that Hayat Tahrir al-Sham are just one of many different groups in Syria vying for control.
On the news about the suspension of asylum claims, Mr Philp said it was the right decision and pointed out that Syrian refugees in neighbouring countries such as Turkey and Lebanon are already returning home.
Yesterday in the House of Commons, Foreign Secretary David Lammy was humiliated after Reform’s deputy leader Richard Tice asked about the Government’s decision to stop asylum claims from Syria.
Mr Lammy replied that the suggestion had “not been put to me in the last few hours” despite the Home Office having just announced the decision.
Minutes later, Sir Keir Starmer was recorded telling broadcasters that it’s “far too early” to talk about removing Syrian rebel group HTS from the list of proscribed terrorist organisations, insisting there is “no decision pending at all”.
This in turn undermined claims from the Cabinet Office minister Pat McFadden earlier in the day, who said the government is looking at that decision in the days to come.
In a press briefing yesterday afternoon, just minutes before the Home Office announced its decision to suspend Syrian asylum applications, the PM’s official spokesman was also unable to guarantee that Britain would not take in anyone associated with President Assad’s reign of terror.
Nor would he confirm whether the events in Syria will impact our own terror security threat level.
