But they said the administration said they won’t “get ahead” of itself. POLITICO asked Starmer on a trip to Kyiv last month if he’d commit to a vote on any British peacekeepers. He declined to give such a commitment.
‘United front’
MPs from Westminster’s opposition parties are demanding parliament’s involvement, too.
“We support the prime minister’s proposals on Ukraine — and we have also always supported parliament having its say on military deployments,” Helen Maguire, the defense spokesperson for centrist opposition party the Liberal Democrats said.
“The prime minister should confirm that any proposals will be put to Parliament, so that we have the opportunity to endorse them,” Maguire added.
John Whittingdale, a long-serving Conservative MP, said that MPs would “expect parliament to debate and possibly vote on” Starmer’s proposal. Mark Garnier — a Conservative front-bench spokesperson — said that “although PMs can deploy forces without reference to parliament, Tony Blair set the precedent” now used. “Starmer should do the same,” he added.
Two other Conservative MPs, John Cooper and Neil Shastri-Hurst, said they believe the Commons will want to have an opportunity to debate the issue. Cooper said it was “vital” to keep parliament abreast of developments in order to preserve parliament’s “united front on Ukraine.”
