British Parliament Will Vote on Iraq: Commons Leader

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, October 14, 2002

British Parliament Will Vote on Iraq: Commons Leader

The leader of British House of Commons said on Sunday that lawmakers would get a "substantive" vote before British troops were committed to any military action in Iraq.

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The leader of British House of Commons said on Sunday that lawmakers would get a "substantive" vote before British troops were committed to any military action in Iraq.

"I've always argued that Parliament should have a vote or available to it a vote on a substantive motion," Robin Cook, the Labor Party leader at the House of Commons, told Sky News television.

He said that Foreign Secretary Jack Straw "has now confirmed there would be such a substantive motion on which members can vote."

British Prime Minister Tony Blair is currently the strongest supporter to the United States efforts to get a tough United Nations Security Council Resolution, backed by the threat of force,to ensure that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein get rid of his US-alleged weapons of mass destruction.

That attitude has been widely criticized in Britain. Many parliament members, quite a number of them from Blair's ruling Labor Party, have expressed concern about the possible war and argued that a debate should be held in the House of Commons before any decision was made on whether Britain should join the war against Iraq.

"I think the right timing for that is first to see what is decided in the Security Council and then to consider that resolution and how Parliament responds to it," said Cook, who is responsible for organizing House of Commons business.

"I think that it's very important that Parliament should be involved in discussions all the way through," he said.

Constitutionally, Blair does not need Parliament's approval to commit troops to action.

But Cook said it would be inconceivable for Britain to go to war without lawmakers' consent.

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