18 November 2015•Update: 20 November 2015
LONDON
Britain will not rule out unilateral strikes if the United Nations does not agree on military action against Daesh, David Cameron has said.
The U.K. prime minister said it was preferable to have the backing the Security Council in efforts to find a solution to the Syrian civil war, but said Russia had repeatedly threatened to veto any such resolution.
Cameron told parliament on Wednesday: “It is always preferable in these circumstances to have the full backing of the United Nations Security Council but I have to say what matters most of all is that any action we would take would both be legal and would help protect our country and our people right here.
“You cannot, as I said yesterday, outsource to a Russian veto the decisions we need to keep our country safe.”
His comments came after a survey found just 15 percent of British respondents believed the U.K. should, like France, launch immediate unilateral air strikes against Daesh in Syria.
According to the Survation opinion poll conducted after the Paris attacks, 52 percent agreed the U.K. should “engage with all countries to co-ordinate an appropriate response, military or otherwise, backed by a United Nations resolution”.
However, in response to a question from Angus Robertson, the Scottish National Party leader in Westminster, Cameron said: “My job frankly as Prime Minister is not to read a Survation opinion poll, but it's to do the right thing to keep our country safe.”
Cameron had said the case for U.K. strikes had “grown stronger” since the Paris attacks and that he would outline his strategy for defeating Daesh before the end of November.
