Browse content similar to 02/12/2015. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Today at 6pm, we're at Westminster, where Parliament is debating | :00:00. | :00:00. | |
the plans for British airstrikes in Syria. | :00:00. | :00:14. | |
The Prime Minister said it was no time to sit back and wait. | :00:15. | :00:20. | |
The action we propose is legal, it is necessary | :00:21. | :00:24. | |
and it is the right thing to do to keep our country safe. | :00:25. | :00:29. | |
But those who oppose the strategy say the case has not been made | :00:30. | :00:35. | |
and they warn the airstrikes could well make matters even worse. | :00:36. | :00:40. | |
It is becoming increasingly clear that the Prime Minister's proposals | :00:41. | :00:42. | |
for military action simply do not stack up. | :00:43. | :00:51. | |
The claims that thousands of Syrian fighters on the ground are ready to | :00:52. | :00:54. | |
join the fight against IS are being questioned. | :00:55. | :00:59. | |
And we'll be looking at the state of public opinion in the UK, ahead | :01:00. | :01:02. | |
We are damned if we do, we are damned if we don't, | :01:03. | :01:08. | |
The head of world athletics, Lord Coe, admits there have been | :01:09. | :01:17. | |
failures over doping in the sport - but vows to fix the problem. | :01:18. | :01:20. | |
And the Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg, marks the birth | :01:21. | :01:23. | |
of his first child with a ?30 billion gift to the world. | :01:24. | :01:30. | |
And on Reporting Scotland at 6.30pm: We'll have more on that debate. | :01:31. | :01:34. | |
These Typhoons at RAF Lossiemouth could leave for the Middle East | :01:35. | :01:36. | |
Scotland gets a new top cop - the former head of Norfolk | :01:37. | :01:45. | |
Good evening from Westminster, where Parliament has been debating | :01:46. | :02:02. | |
plans for British airstrikes against so-called Islamic State | :02:03. | :02:05. | |
MPs will vote on the plans at 10pm tonight. | :02:06. | :02:11. | |
The debate was opened by the Prime Minister, who warned that Britain | :02:12. | :02:14. | |
couldn't afford to "sit back and wait for an attack here in the UK". | :02:15. | :02:18. | |
But Mr Cameron faced persistent criticism from opposition MPs | :02:19. | :02:21. | |
after he'd described those against airstrikes as | :02:22. | :02:24. | |
Labour's Jeremy Corbyn said the government's plans were | :02:25. | :02:29. | |
misguided and could well make matters worse in Syria. | :02:30. | :02:32. | |
First this evening, our political editor Laura Kuenssberg reports | :02:33. | :02:35. | |
Time to debate and time to decide. The men and women that you sent to | :02:36. | :02:54. | |
Westminster prepare to send British waters into action and danger. My | :02:55. | :03:02. | |
sense is that... Three weeks ago, the government wasn't even planning | :03:03. | :03:06. | |
to ask the question, and it is tense. For the Prime Minister it | :03:07. | :03:10. | |
makes no sense not to bomb extremists based in Syria who | :03:11. | :03:15. | |
threaten us. For Labour's leader, it makes no sense to start strikes | :03:16. | :03:20. | |
which could threaten us more. Even before ten hours of debate, MPs were | :03:21. | :03:24. | |
on the verge of saying the time has come. The Prime Minister. There is a | :03:25. | :03:34. | |
simple question at the heart of the debate today. We face a fundamental | :03:35. | :03:41. | |
threat to our security. Isil have brutally murdered British hostages, | :03:42. | :03:45. | |
they have inspired the British -- worst terrorist attack against | :03:46. | :03:51. | |
British people since July the 7th on Tunisia. Do we go after these | :03:52. | :03:55. | |
terrorists in their heartlands from where they are plotting to kill | :03:56. | :03:59. | |
British people or do we sit back and wait for them to attack us? British | :04:00. | :04:04. | |
Muslims are appalled by Daesh. These women raping, Muslim murdering, | :04:05. | :04:11. | |
medieval monsters are hijacking the religion of Islam. He says that | :04:12. | :04:18. | |
troops are ready to take to the ground after bombing but these | :04:19. | :04:22. | |
claims are less than perfect. I am not arguing that all of these 70,000 | :04:23. | :04:27. | |
are ideal partners. Some left the Syrian army because of Assad's | :04:28. | :04:36. | |
brutality. A Labour leader, a heroic anti-war campaigners, says the | :04:37. | :04:40. | |
government is acting too fast. Public opinion is moving | :04:41. | :04:43. | |
increasingly against what I believe to be an ill thought out rush to | :04:44. | :04:49. | |
war. He wants to hold this vote before the opinion grows even | :04:50. | :04:54. | |
further against him. It is becoming increasingly clear that the Prime | :04:55. | :04:57. | |
Minister's proposal for military action simply doesn't stack up. With | :04:58. | :05:05. | |
his own MPs divided, at times Mr Corbyn struggled to keep control. | :05:06. | :05:13. | |
The government's proposals... But he suggested air strikes in Syria would | :05:14. | :05:18. | |
make us less, not more safe. The Prime Minister has avoided spelling | :05:19. | :05:21. | |
out the warnings he has surely been given. The likely impact of you wake | :05:22. | :05:27. | |
-- UK air strikes on the threat of terrorist attacks in the UK. It is | :05:28. | :05:32. | |
critically important that we as a house are honest with the British | :05:33. | :05:37. | |
people about the potential consequences of the action the Prime | :05:38. | :05:43. | |
Minister is proposing today. While MPs talked, others were on the | :05:44. | :05:47. | |
streets, like in Edinburgh, protesting. David Cameron last night | :05:48. | :05:52. | |
opposed -- accused MPs are proposing action of being terrorist | :05:53. | :05:55. | |
sympathisers. Today he was asked again and again with anger to say | :05:56. | :06:01. | |
sorry. I cannot identify a single terrorist sympathiser in that list. | :06:02. | :06:07. | |
Will he apologised for his deeply insulting remarks? Mr Cameron caused | :06:08. | :06:11. | |
few read by refusing but his argument inside and outside one more | :06:12. | :06:18. | |
and more support, even if reluctant, throughout the day. This is a tough | :06:19. | :06:23. | |
call. On right, it is right to take action to degrade and defeat this | :06:24. | :06:29. | |
death cult. Without the defeat of Daesh there will be no peace. We | :06:30. | :06:33. | |
have not chosen this conflict but we can't ignore it. Is a Muslim woman, | :06:34. | :06:39. | |
I stand with people of all faiths who applaud these actions. We are | :06:40. | :06:42. | |
justified in taking action to destroy them. -- people who abhor | :06:43. | :06:55. | |
these actions. British military action brought people back from the | :06:56. | :07:00. | |
brink. But lingering doubts might present long-term dilemmas. Instead | :07:01. | :07:07. | |
of dodgy dossiers we now have bogus battalions of moderate fighters. I | :07:08. | :07:13. | |
am not going to be a party to killing innocent civilians for what | :07:14. | :07:23. | |
will simply be a gesture, yes. We should help our allies. We should | :07:24. | :07:27. | |
help our allies by destroying Isis, by doing it properly, not by | :07:28. | :07:33. | |
symbolism. The result of the vote, the decision MPs will make any few | :07:34. | :07:38. | |
hours is never really been in doubt, but the consequences of sending | :07:39. | :07:42. | |
British forces in to be sky over Syria is too hard to predict. | :07:43. | :07:48. | |
The debate is still going on. Laura, every indication, as you have been | :07:49. | :07:52. | |
saying, that the Prime Minister will get his way. What are the | :07:53. | :07:57. | |
implications? You can almost cut the tension with a knife but even Labour | :07:58. | :08:01. | |
officials were conceding not long after the debate began that the | :08:02. | :08:04. | |
government was going to win. Before a single vote has been cast, it has | :08:05. | :08:09. | |
changed the political picture. First and most immediately, within the | :08:10. | :08:14. | |
next 48 hours, British forces will be involved in attacking another | :08:15. | :08:18. | |
country. The Prime Minister will feel emboldened by that because he | :08:19. | :08:22. | |
has got what he wanted all along. The Labour leadership, in turn, has | :08:23. | :08:26. | |
been put under significant strain by the events of the last few days. | :08:27. | :08:31. | |
They have been in turmoil. Those two macro factors will of course dictate | :08:32. | :08:36. | |
much of how politics goes on and changes and evolves in the next few | :08:37. | :08:40. | |
days, but it is worth casting our minds back. Less than a month ago, | :08:41. | :08:45. | |
the very fact of this vote happening seemed impossible. It was on the | :08:46. | :08:49. | |
back burner. In the immediate days following the attacks on Paris, it | :08:50. | :08:53. | |
fast started to feel inevitable. Inevitable, perhaps, but reluctant. | :08:54. | :08:58. | |
MPs are not going into this with some sort of glorious sense. They | :08:59. | :09:02. | |
are going into this with a heavy heart. | :09:03. | :09:06. | |
As we've heard, the Prime Minister was asked several times to explain | :09:07. | :09:09. | |
the Government's estimate that as many as 70,000 Syrian fighters not | :09:10. | :09:11. | |
belonging to extremist groups might be counted on to join the fight. | :09:12. | :09:14. | |
Mr Cameron has also stressed that the use of airstrikes must be seen | :09:15. | :09:17. | |
Our diplomatic correspondent James Robbins has been looking | :09:18. | :09:25. | |
at the evolving British strategy in the region. | :09:26. | :09:34. | |
For over a year, error -- RAF pilots have been targeting targets in Iraq | :09:35. | :09:43. | |
where IS hold substantial territory. Now they are poised for an even more | :09:44. | :09:49. | |
complex mission in Syria. These are the planes the RAF has been flying | :09:50. | :09:53. | |
in attacks over Iraq and already for use in Syria. They are tornado GR4s. | :09:54. | :10:05. | |
Included in their armoury, brimstone missiles. The aircraft could be | :10:06. | :10:10. | |
flying from Cyprus and they would be flying over northern Syria, looking | :10:11. | :10:16. | |
for IS targets, particularly in and around Raqqa. They would also be | :10:17. | :10:20. | |
attacking across all areas controlled by IS, shown in orange. | :10:21. | :10:25. | |
The RAF would be joining US and French planes, who are already | :10:26. | :10:28. | |
bombing. The coalition has carried out more than 2700 strikes over | :10:29. | :10:34. | |
Syria in the last 14 months. On the ground, David Cameron says 70,000 | :10:35. | :10:37. | |
Syrian opposition fighters capable of retaking territory from IS exist, | :10:38. | :10:43. | |
and they control the areas covered in green. They come from different, | :10:44. | :10:48. | |
rival rebel groups, as many as 100, and they are spread out throughout | :10:49. | :10:54. | |
Syria. Most are a long way from the IS strongholds around Raqqa and many | :10:55. | :10:58. | |
are infuriated by Western pressure on them to defeat IS before going | :10:59. | :11:03. | |
after their primary enemy, President Assad and his government forces, who | :11:04. | :11:08. | |
control the areas in pink. We have to be clear what these troops or | :11:09. | :11:14. | |
fighters can and can't achieve. They certainly can't be a coherent army | :11:15. | :11:17. | |
or military force which can overthrow the regime of Assad, | :11:18. | :11:23. | |
defeat Isis and return Syria to stability. They can defend small | :11:24. | :11:27. | |
pockets of the country and translate that to a discussion at a political | :11:28. | :11:32. | |
level in which perhaps bash at Al Asad and the opposition can reach a | :11:33. | :11:37. | |
compromise. There is another competition. Russia says it has 69 | :11:38. | :11:42. | |
aircraft attacking Syria in support of President Assad. Although Moscow | :11:43. | :11:48. | |
insists it is increasingly hitting IS extremists, Nato's American | :11:49. | :11:53. | |
commander today said the vast majority of Russian sorties are | :11:54. | :11:55. | |
still targeting moderate groups that the west is relying on. | :11:56. | :11:59. | |
During the debate, the Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn | :12:00. | :12:01. | |
insisted that public opinion was moving in his direction, against | :12:02. | :12:03. | |
But Mr Corbyn's opponents are still claiming that he is out | :12:04. | :12:08. | |
of touch with the view of most people in the UK | :12:09. | :12:11. | |
Our home editor Mark Easton has been examining the state | :12:12. | :12:15. | |
In Manchester's People's history Museum, a building celebrating | :12:16. | :12:31. | |
democracy, a jury of undecided citizens gathered to reflect on the | :12:32. | :12:34. | |
case for dropping British bombs on Syria. When our friend and ally | :12:35. | :12:41. | |
France has been struck in this way, if not now, when? Go in either | :12:42. | :12:48. | |
direction and start writing your words. 16 people, selected to | :12:49. | :12:54. | |
reflect the city's diversity, share their hopes and fears on extending | :12:55. | :12:58. | |
the military mandate against Islamic State. The initial comments and use | :12:59. | :13:04. | |
a word cloud of almost tortured ambivalence. Is it right for Britain | :13:05. | :13:08. | |
to join the air strikes on Syria? I really don't know and I suppose that | :13:09. | :13:13. | |
is a dilemma everyone has to face. I want to promote peace and love for | :13:14. | :13:18. | |
humanity and I think the lives of the innocent people in Syria are | :13:19. | :13:22. | |
also as valuable as the lives that have been lost in Paris. We all want | :13:23. | :13:27. | |
peace and harmony and love and everything else but where is that | :13:28. | :13:31. | |
going to take us? What will we get from that? You almost have to fight | :13:32. | :13:35. | |
fire with fire. What choice do we have? I have two macro boys in the | :13:36. | :13:42. | |
forces. I have a Marine and a para. They say, Mum, that is what we | :13:43. | :13:46. | |
joined up for, that is what we do, and it terrifies me. The thing is, | :13:47. | :13:50. | |
so many innocents will suffer, so many. Islamic State, so-called is an | :13:51. | :14:00. | |
extreme and merciless enemy... Using BBC news reports to remind them of | :14:01. | :14:05. | |
the issues, our jury consider the moral case for air strikes. If this | :14:06. | :14:10. | |
happened in Manchester or London, would we expect other countries to | :14:11. | :14:15. | |
come to our aid and support? The agreement is, if one is attacks, we | :14:16. | :14:20. | |
are all attacked. It was Paris but it could be London. We have got to | :14:21. | :14:28. | |
socket -- stop it in its tracks. But it will not be. It will keep going. | :14:29. | :14:33. | |
It will not be stopped if we sit on our hands. If something happened in | :14:34. | :14:41. | |
this country, like tomorrow, we would have too picked up our worldly | :14:42. | :14:47. | |
goods and start marching down the road, how would we feel? If they are | :14:48. | :14:52. | |
going to do air strikes, the message is going to become getting votes. | :14:53. | :15:00. | |
They are trying to escape it all. We also asked the jury to decide | :15:01. | :15:04. | |
whether the military and strategic case for bombing had been made. Air | :15:05. | :15:09. | |
strikes by themselves will not make a blind bit of difference. They | :15:10. | :15:13. | |
won't make the streets of Britain any safer. If we were to bomb Syria, | :15:14. | :15:20. | |
we would probably get bombed back. I think that is as anybody. They don't | :15:21. | :15:28. | |
know what country the jet is from. I don't think the threat is any worse | :15:29. | :15:33. | |
to ask if we are bombing than if we are not. I think the bombing is too | :15:34. | :15:39. | |
indiscriminate. We are bombed -- dammed if we do and bent if we | :15:40. | :15:45. | |
don't. Thank you, I think you have demonstrated what a complicated | :15:46. | :15:48. | |
issue this is. Like the MPs in London, we are going to ask you to | :15:49. | :15:53. | |
vote. Should Britain conduct air strikes against IS in Syria, yes or | :15:54. | :15:59. | |
no? Before they came, our 16 citizens said that they were | :16:00. | :16:03. | |
undecided. The jury foreman was selected to deliver the final | :16:04. | :16:07. | |
verdict. Eight people voted yes and eight people voted no, so the result | :16:08. | :16:12. | |
is a tie. Our result echoes opinion polls, the | :16:13. | :16:17. | |
UK is deeply divided on whether bombing Syria is the right policy. | :16:18. | :16:20. | |
What ball seemed to agree upon is that there are no easy answers. | :16:21. | :16:24. | |
In Syria, President Bashar al-Assad has dismissed the significance | :16:25. | :16:26. | |
of Western air strikes against so-called Islamic State targets. | :16:27. | :16:29. | |
He says the only meaningful intervention has been from Russia, | :16:30. | :16:33. | |
which, in his view, has changed the situation on the ground. | :16:34. | :16:36. | |
Our chief international correspondent, Lyse Doucet, | :16:37. | :16:38. | |
What have people been saying to you there about the prospect of British | :16:39. | :16:51. | |
involvement? Well, this vote in the British Parliament didn't get a | :16:52. | :16:55. | |
mention in this morning's newspaper in Damascus and it has not been on | :16:56. | :16:59. | |
the evening news. There are so many outside players involved in this | :17:00. | :17:03. | |
tangled conflict that it barely registers anymore. Everyone I spoke | :17:04. | :17:10. | |
to today have said... PROBLEM WITH SOUND | :17:11. | :17:15. | |
In the capital, which is under government control, many people said | :17:16. | :17:19. | |
the campaign would not succeed unless it was coordinated with | :17:20. | :17:22. | |
President al-Assad and the Syrian Army. That is what Russia is doing | :17:23. | :17:26. | |
and that is what the West and other Arab states say they won't do, not | :17:27. | :17:32. | |
after such long... PROBLEM WITH SOUND | :17:33. | :17:37. | |
I'm sorry about the problem with the link there. So far, at least in | :17:38. | :17:42. | |
terms of news headlines, the story of this debate in Westminster is | :17:43. | :17:47. | |
making very little in terms of impact. | :17:48. | :17:49. | |
You can follow the debate that's going on in | :17:50. | :17:51. | |
the House of Commons, with analysis and comment from our correspondents | :17:52. | :17:52. | |
We'll have more from Westminster a little later, but for now it's | :17:53. | :18:01. | |
Parliament is debating right now whether to support | :18:02. | :18:15. | |
The Facebook founder, his wife, and their ?30 billion giveaway. | :18:16. | :18:25. | |
And coming up on Reporting Scotland at 6.30: | :18:26. | :18:28. | |
We hear from Syrians living in Scotland about their hopes | :18:29. | :18:31. | |
and fears for the results of tonight's Commons vote. | :18:32. | :18:35. | |
And drivers stuck in jams for hours, as a defect is found in the | :18:36. | :18:39. | |
Now, he leads an organisation criticised over allegations | :18:40. | :18:50. | |
The head of World Athletics, Lord Coe, | :18:51. | :18:56. | |
faced MPs today for questions about his role in sorting out the mess. | :18:57. | :19:01. | |
He admitted there had been a failure to tackle doping and said the past | :19:02. | :19:06. | |
Our Sports Editor, Dan Roan, reports. | :19:07. | :19:14. | |
He may be the country's leading sporting statesman, but after months | :19:15. | :19:21. | |
of allegations of cheating and corruption in athletics, Lord Coe | :19:22. | :19:25. | |
was today asked to explain himself. The former MP, now IAAF President, | :19:26. | :19:29. | |
back in Parliament to answer questions on how track and field | :19:30. | :19:33. | |
lost its reputation for fair play. How on earth have we got from a | :19:34. | :19:38. | |
sport that was underpinned by that kind of philosophy to the horror | :19:39. | :19:43. | |
show that has played out on the global stage in the last few weeks? | :19:44. | :19:48. | |
I don't know the answer to that. I will find out. Coe's career took him | :19:49. | :19:55. | |
first to Fifa, then to the IAAF, where, after eight years as a | :19:56. | :19:59. | |
Vice-President, he replaced Lamine Diack, now under investigation for | :20:00. | :20:04. | |
alleged corruption. Your insider in these two organisations, which have | :20:05. | :20:09. | |
been bedevilled by allegations of corruption for very many years, and | :20:10. | :20:16. | |
you have been very closely involved in both organisations, why in those | :20:17. | :20:20. | |
circumstances should we think that you are the person to clean up the | :20:21. | :20:25. | |
situation now? Because I have the experience to do that. You didn't | :20:26. | :20:31. | |
ask any tough questions in 2007? I had the support of the sport to do | :20:32. | :20:37. | |
that. Have there been failures? Yes. Will I fix them? Absolutely. Coe was | :20:38. | :20:43. | |
asked about his decision last week to end a paid ambassadorial role | :20:44. | :20:48. | |
with Nike. Would I have got rid of it earlier if I thought the noise | :20:49. | :20:52. | |
would have escalated to the level it did? I probably would have done. One | :20:53. | :20:57. | |
of the next big issues facing Coe will concern Russia, currently | :20:58. | :21:01. | |
suspended for state-sponsored doping. For now, he will hope the | :21:02. | :21:05. | |
toughest questions are behind him. Dan Roan, BBC News. | :21:06. | :21:08. | |
Police are searching a number of addresses in Luton | :21:09. | :21:10. | |
in Bedfordshire, after four men were arrested in the town | :21:11. | :21:11. | |
Scotland Yard says the operation is part of an | :21:12. | :21:16. | |
investigation focused on the local area, and that it has no connection | :21:17. | :21:19. | |
The arrested men are all in their 30s. | :21:20. | :21:26. | |
A company which bombarded people with millions of nuisance | :21:27. | :21:29. | |
The Government watchdog found that The National Advice Clinic, | :21:30. | :21:37. | |
based in Lancashire, made nearly six million calls between October last | :21:38. | :21:41. | |
A baby girl from Suffolk who died just over | :21:42. | :21:47. | |
an hour after being born has become the country's youngest organ donor. | :21:48. | :21:54. | |
Hope Lee, here on the left with her twin brother, | :21:55. | :21:57. | |
had a rare condition that prevents her skull from developing properly. | :21:58. | :22:01. | |
Hope's kidneys have been transplanted into an adult patient. | :22:02. | :22:07. | |
The founder of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, and his wife, | :22:08. | :22:10. | |
Priscilla Chan, have announced they will, over time, give away 99% | :22:11. | :22:14. | |
of their Facebook shares - to mark the birth of their first child. | :22:15. | :22:20. | |
Those shares are currently worth about ?30 billion. | :22:21. | :22:24. | |
The couple say they're doing it because they want to make | :22:25. | :22:26. | |
the world a better place for their daughter to grow up in. | :22:27. | :22:30. | |
Like many a young couple, Mark and Priscilla took to Facebook | :22:31. | :22:36. | |
to celebrate the birth of their daughter, but they had other news. | :22:37. | :22:41. | |
In a video recorded just weeks before the arrival of Max, the | :22:42. | :22:45. | |
Having this child has made us think about all of the things that should | :22:46. | :22:50. | |
be improved in the world for her whole generation. | :22:51. | :22:55. | |
We need to make sure that there are investments | :22:56. | :22:57. | |
and programmes that ensure that the future isn't going to be like today, | :22:58. | :23:03. | |
In a letter to their daughter, the couple now say that over their | :23:04. | :23:07. | |
lifetimes they'll donate 99% of their Facebook shares, to promote | :23:08. | :23:11. | |
good causes, from better health and education, to greater equality. | :23:12. | :23:16. | |
Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan join other billionaires in giving | :23:17. | :23:19. | |
Bill and Melinda Gates have so far donated over ?21 billion. | :23:20. | :23:26. | |
The businessman Warren Buffett has given ?15 billion. | :23:27. | :23:30. | |
And the investor George Soros has donated ?7 billion | :23:31. | :23:32. | |
Bill and Melinda Gates have been praised for their contribution to | :23:33. | :23:38. | |
eradicating diseases in developing countries, but | :23:39. | :23:42. | |
sometimes donors can find it hard to direct cash where it's needed. | :23:43. | :23:46. | |
It is all too easy to spend money that's aimed to do good | :23:47. | :23:50. | |
on things that don't have an impact, and what I'd encourage them to do is | :23:51. | :23:53. | |
to focus on causes that are really big problems, that are neglected by | :23:54. | :23:57. | |
other funders, so you can really make progress. | :23:58. | :24:02. | |
Right from when he founded Facebook as a 20-year-old student, | :24:03. | :24:05. | |
Mark Zuckerberg has said his mission is to change the way the world | :24:06. | :24:08. | |
Luckily for him, and for the causes he and his wife support, | :24:09. | :24:13. | |
More now from Westminster and the continuing MPs' debate | :24:14. | :24:23. | |
about whether to support British air strikes in Syria. | :24:24. | :24:26. | |
Welcome back to Westminster, where the debate on British air | :24:27. | :24:32. | |
It will end at around 10.00pm tonight | :24:33. | :24:36. | |
If Mr Cameron's plans are approved, those strikes could begin | :24:37. | :24:41. | |
And the RAF base at Akrotiri in Cyprus will play a key part | :24:42. | :24:47. | |
Our defence correspondent, Jonathan Beale, is there. | :24:48. | :24:54. | |
To say something about possible timings within hours of this vote, | :24:55. | :24:59. | |
and the likely extent of any action as you see it? As you say, I think | :25:00. | :25:06. | |
if there is a Yes vote, we will see the RAF doing its first combat | :25:07. | :25:12. | |
sortie over Syria. There is political pressure to show that | :25:13. | :25:16. | |
Britain, the RAF, are making a difference. There are few countries | :25:17. | :25:26. | |
doing air strikes over Syria. They may have, the Americans, | :25:27. | :25:29. | |
pre-selected a target. There will be more jets arriving here, two more | :25:30. | :25:33. | |
Tornados to the eight already here, as well as six Typhoon jets. You | :25:34. | :25:37. | |
have to remember that is still a relatively modest contribution, | :25:38. | :25:40. | |
smaller than the French, much smaller than the Americans. And this | :25:41. | :25:44. | |
will not be shock and awe, it is worth remembering that over Iraq, | :25:45. | :25:47. | |
over the past year, three-quarters of those missions flown by the RAF, | :25:48. | :25:53. | |
they haven't fired any weapons. Many thanks. Jonathan Beale at RAF | :25:54. | :25:58. | |
Akrotiri. Let's have a last word with Laura. Let's talk about the | :25:59. | :26:02. | |
vote, the result. How important do you think is the margin of victory | :26:03. | :26:06. | |
for Mr Cameron if he gets that victory? It does matter, the size of | :26:07. | :26:11. | |
the majority. It may dictate how sticky the support is for action in | :26:12. | :26:16. | |
Syria as and when things become tricky. As and when the plans, such | :26:17. | :26:22. | |
as it is, gets into difficulties, if indeed that is the case. Of course, | :26:23. | :26:26. | |
MPs, who backed it, who publicly back the action, will be more | :26:27. | :26:29. | |
reluctant to withdraw that support and to come out in terms of | :26:30. | :26:33. | |
criticism. Of course, it may dictate some of how the public feels about | :26:34. | :26:38. | |
this. The Government now has calculated that the threat from | :26:39. | :26:40. | |
Islamic State is such that the public believe the Government is | :26:41. | :26:43. | |
doing the right thing, in the main. But, as we know from previous | :26:44. | :26:48. | |
military interventions, political and public opinion can change and | :26:49. | :26:54. | |
change very fast. Thank you. We will talk later tonight. Laura | :26:55. | :26:55. | |
Kuenssberg, our political editor. Time for a look at the weather. | :26:56. | :26:59. | |
Here's Helen Willetts. Some lovely Weather Watchers' | :27:00. | :27:09. | |
pictures today. It wasn't sunny for all. After what has been a dull | :27:10. | :27:13. | |
November, it continued that way in parts of Northern Ireland. Why? | :27:14. | :27:17. | |
Because it is here, along with the North, where we started the day with | :27:18. | :27:22. | |
our weather front. There are further bumps materialising on that front, | :27:23. | :27:25. | |
which means more rain. It is distinguishing that mild air from | :27:26. | :27:31. | |
the cold, wintry weather in the north. That will continue overnight, | :27:32. | :27:36. | |
cold enough for some frost, potential for some ice and fog in | :27:37. | :27:41. | |
the north. The rain takes centre stage. As I mentioned, it is a cold | :27:42. | :27:47. | |
start to the day tomorrow in the north. A bit of fog around. By the | :27:48. | :27:52. | |
rush hour tomorrow morning, some rain falling across the | :27:53. | :27:56. | |
trans-pennine routes. Hopefully, having eased a bit further south, | :27:57. | :28:01. | |
but it will be mild and grey here. Hopefully, we will see a bit of | :28:02. | :28:04. | |
sunshine coming through. Those windows of fine weather will close | :28:05. | :28:09. | |
in as the winds strengthen in the south. More rain will be pushed into | :28:10. | :28:19. | |
Wales, northern Scotland. Still quite balmy if we see the | :28:20. | :28:23. | |
sunshine further south and east. The windows of sunshine are diminishing. | :28:24. | :28:30. | |
Notice, the snow for the southern uplands, much quieter to start | :28:31. | :28:33. | |
Friday. That doesn't last. Look at this next spell of stormy weather | :28:34. | :28:39. | |
coming in. A real squeeze on those isobars, so some severe gales going | :28:40. | :28:43. | |
into the weekend and yet more rain. So there are warnings in force | :28:44. | :28:47. | |
because river levels are high, they are on the website. Huw. | :28:48. | :28:52. | |
The debate on whether to support British air strikes in Syria is | :28:53. | :28:58. | |
continuing. MPs are expected to vote at 10.00pm tonight. So I will be | :28:59. | :29:01. | |
back then with the results for you. For now, from all of the team on BBC | :29:02. | :29:05. | |
News at Six, we will | :29:06. | :29:06. |