"I don't see how we can watch as such a vicious and fanatical terrorist group establishes itself in Syria," one MP commented
All 11 MPs in Surrey voted in favour of carrying out air strikes in Syria at the end of a 10-and-a-half-hour debate in the House of Commons on Wednesday (December 2).
The government’s plan to carry out bombing raids on ISIS militants was passed with a majority of 174.
Prime Minister David Cameron pushed for the vote in the wake of the Paris atrocities last month, which saw 130 people killed, but many MPs questioned whether bombing was the right way to deal with the terror threat.
The vote was announced at around 10.30pm, with 397 MPs in favour of British planes joining the fight against Islamic State and 223 against.
Among those voting yes were Surrey's 11 Conservative MPs - Anne Milton ( Guildford ), Jonathan Lord ( Woking ), Sir Paul Beresford (Mole Valley), Michael Gove (Surrey Heath), Jeremy Hunt (South West Surrey), Philip Hammond (Runnymede and Weybridge ), Kwasi Kwarteng (Spelthorne), Dominic Raab (Esher and Walton), Crispin Blunt (Reigate), Chris Grayling ( Epsom and Ewell ) and Sam Gyimah (East Surrey).
Mr Raab commented: “Of course it’s a difficult issue, but we’re not going to be sucked into the kind of open-ended intervention we saw in Iraq.
“Ultimately, I don’t see how we can watch as such a vicious and fanatical terrorist group establishes itself in Syria, and then stand back as it uses its foothold there as a base to directly threaten the UK and other countries.”
Mr Cameron created controversy from the beginning of the debate after labelling anti-war MPs as “terrorist sympathisers” and repeatedly refusing to apologise.
Kwasi Kwarteng, MP for Spelthorne, said: “My broad feeling was if you look at this it’s not a new war and we are not fighting a new enemy.
"We are already striking ISIS targets in Iraq. This is an extension of what we are doing.”
Asked whether conducting air strikes was the best option to combat ISIS, he said: “I think at the moment it’s where we are. It’s not all we need to do and does not, in itself, solve the problem entirely.
“I think you always have to be mindful of collateral damage, but we have got a strategy.
“524 to 43 MPs voted to striking ISIS in Iraq [18 months ago] and I never understood that if it is alright to strike in Iraq it is not right to do it in Syria.”
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