THERE was no vote in Parliament for the airstrikes on the Houthi rebels in Yemen. That itself is wrong.

The implications of military action are significant and should be debated and decided upon in Parliament, not carried out by executive fiat.

The statement made by the Prime Minister was inadequate. He suggested there was no linkage between that action and the situation in Gaza. That’s disingenuous in the extreme. The reason British forces are in the region and additional ones stationed in Cyprus is due to the conflict there.

Similarly, that’s why an American fleet was dispatched, not the Houthi rockets that have since been launched. Moreover, the Houthis have stated that it’s an attempt to intercede with Israeli ships and trade. They’re undoubtedly hitting more randomly but there’s no reason to believe that it wouldn’t stop if Israeli military incursions into Gaza ceased.

As it is, it hasn’t stopped the rockets. The Houthis have sustained a decade and more of similar attacks, albeit by Saudi Arabia, but with the best military equipment that the UK and USA could sell them. This is unlikely to work either. All it does is worsen the situation in a country already wracked by years of war and where famine and disease have become the norm.

The solution is to rein in Israel’s actions in Gaza, which have seen them brought before the International Court of Justice for genocide. Instead, the UK is seen to be supine to Israel at best or in cahoots at worst. It will damage the UK’s standing globally, worsening a profile already tarnished by Tony Blair’s Iraq War. The danger is not just a further widening and escalation of the conflict but the legacy of terrorism fuelled by hatred that endangers us.

There’s also the cost. Military action costs millions and yet the need in this country has never been greater for many. Homelessness is visible in the shadows of Westminster. Folk are struggling to heat their homes or feed their kids. It’s a war on poverty that is needed.