As your Member of Parliament, the decision about whether to support our armed forces participating in conflict is one of the most serious decisions that I have to take.

For me, the starting point on action in Syria was whether there was a direct threat to our national security. There have already been seven attempted attacks in the UK that have been foiled this year. The attacks on British citizens on the beaches of Tunisia as well as those in Paris and many other places, demonstrated that ISIL/Daesh have a clear desire to inflict widespread and indiscriminate civilian casualties. This threat alone legally justifies military action on the basis of self defence.

Many people have asked whether UK action in Syria will actually have any impact. The UK has made progress with its allies in halting the advance of ISIL in Iraq. It makes no sense that our action against them has to stop at Iraq’s artificial colonial era border with Syria, which they don’t respect.

The RAF have unique military capabilities that will assist our allies in reducing ISIL’s capability to attack us. Our Brimstone precision missile system and RAPTOR are the best in the world. It is because of this that President Obama and President Hollande asked us to assist them in Syria. I do not believe that when our national security is threatened, we should expect our allies to act without us acting too.

Many people have quite rightly asked whether air power alone can defeat ISIL. The simple answer is no, but this does not mean that we should not act at all. Of course, a full solution cannot be achieved until there is a new Syrian Government who represent all the Syrian people. We have firm international commitment at talks in Vienna from all the backers of a future Syrian Government, but we do not have the luxury of waiting for that settlement before we take action.

It is vital that we learn the lessons from Iraq and have a proper plan for reconstruction in Syria. The Prime Minister has committed an additional billion pounds to this task and I am confident that other nations, including the United States and Russia will show a similar commitment.

These are not easy decisions but I honestly believe that the circumstances justify British military action.

This article appeared in the December edition of MyBushey and MyRadlett news.