SDLP Leader Colum Eastwood MLA has said that reported remarks made by British Prime Minister David Cameron describing MPs opposed to air strikes in Syria as ‘terrorist sympathisers’ are appalling and should be withdrawn immediately.
Mr Cameron is said to have made his remarks during a meeting of his MPs this evening in Westminster a head of a debate and vote on Wednesday, December 2 in the House of Commons.
Speaking from the launch of a new Book charting the life and career of Civil Rights Giant John Hume, Mr Eastwood said:
“David Cameron’s remarks describing those opposed to air strikes in Syria as ‘terrorist sympathisers’ are appalling, inaccurate and offensive in the extreme.
“Opposing military action in Syria that will kill innocents and can only feed the evil we all want to defeat is not sympathy with terrorists, it’s part of the lesson we have learned from decades of conflict.
“To describe people like Mark Durkan, Margaret Ritchie and Alasdair McDonnell as ‘terrorist sympathisers’ is absolutely galling. These are people who stood strongly against violence for over forty years at great personal risk while people like David Cameron enjoyed a life of privilege. His comments are totally despicable and he should withdraw them immediately.
“SDLP MPs will proudly walk through the voting lobbies with our colleagues in Labour, the SNP, Plaid Cymru and other parties to oppose military action tomorrow.
“We will not legitimise the trigger finger of a Prime Minister more concerned with the theatrics of winning a political victory over the Labour Party than the devastation that will rain down on innocents in Raqqa as they are used as human shields by vicious cowards in IS.
“There are all sorts of claims that airstrikes are a precise form of attack. Yet we know from experience in places like Gaza that they’re not.
“I’ve been at the scene of an airstrike the day after someone pressed the button. I know the devastation they can have.
“This is not the right way to deal with the threat from IS.
“Cameron will win no allies by decrying those with legitimate concerns about his plans. He should resile from his comments immediately and see sense.”
