Caroline:"David Cameron may have fled Parliament but his legacy lives on in Libya"

Caroline Lucas has responded to a report by the foreign affairs select committee on the conflict. She was one of thirteen MPs who voted against intervention in Libya in 2011, 

Caroline said:

“This report lays bare the catastrophic consequences of Britain’s military intervention in Libya. The country has been left decimated and the turmoil from the disastrous intervention in 2011 has led to thousands of people risking their lives by trying to cross the Mediterranean in search of sanctuary in Europe. David Cameron may have fled Parliament but his legacy lives on in Libya.

“Britain’s recent, bloody history of foreign interventions should serve the new Prime Minister as a stark warning of the real cost of sending British troops into combat. In this particular conflict a number of MPs warned of the dangers of mission creep, but they were ignored. It’s no exaggeration to say that the mistakes of the past are written in the blood of countless civilians who have been killed or injured in these interventions and the chaos that followed.

“It’s time for Britain to adopt a genuinely ethical foreign policy. For starters that must mean rethinking the way we intervene in foreign conflicts, often causing more harm than good. It must also mean an immediate ban on selling weapons to repressive regimes – and a redoubling of our efforts to wage peace through diplomacy rather than continually flexing our military muscles.”

ENDS