There is “no shortage” of countries bombing Islamic State in Syria, Angus Robertson said, as he sought to make the case against expanding UK military action.
Speaking on an amendment signed by more than 100 MPs from six parties – including Tories and Labour – the SNP’s leader in Westminster said his party does “share the concerns of everybody else” about the terrorist threat posed by Daesh.
But he does not believe UK air strikes should be expanded into the country.
He said: “There is agreement across this House that the threat from Daesh is real and doing nothing is not an option.
“However, we recall that only two years ago this Prime Minister, this Government, wanted us to bomb the opponents of Daesh which would no doubt have strengthened them.
“Now of course we haven’t heard it yet but there is no shortage of countries currently bombing in Syria.”
He added: “The point is, there is bombing currently under way in Syria and to pretend that what is being proposed while not taking that into account is highly misleading.”
The Commons is due to vote on military action at 10pm tonight with more than 150 MPs wishing to speak in a marathon debate.
Earlier, David Cameron insisted that Britain must decide whether to take on the “evil” of so-called Islamic State in its Syrian heartlands or “wait for them to attack us”.
The Prime Minister refused to apologise for branding anti-war Labour MPs “terrorist sympathisers” but insisted that he respects those who will vote against military action.
He sought to head off criticisms of his case for action, admitting that the 70,000 so-called moderate Syrian rebels were not all ideal partners but saying he was prepared to work with them and insisting that
Britain’s precision weapons would lead to fewer civilian casualties.
But Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said air strikes would “almost invetiably lead to the deaths of innocents” and accused the PM of rushing a Commons vote through before public opinion turns against military action.
Mr Corbyn questioned whether air strikes would contribute to a peaceful settlement for Syria and warned that they could increase the possibility of terror attacks in Britain.