SIR – It was disappointing to read in the Worcester News (August 31) that MPs across Worcestershire voted for the ‘principle’ of military action in Syria.

The Prime Minister claimed that Syria needs to be bombed to deter the use of chemical weapons, but this would be illegal without UN endorsement, as well as hypocritical.

As Max Hastings wrote in the Daily Mail: “It is naive to suppose that sarin gas is any worse for its victims than napalm, cluster bombs, Agent Orange defoliant or white phosphorous, widely used by the Western powers in their wars since 1945.”

One could also mention the use of depleted uranium that has caused an epidemic of deformed births in Iraq.

It is nauseating to hear government ministers pretend to be concerned about the people of Syria, given their previous indifference to suffering in the region and their constant claims that cuts must be made to welfare in this country.

NEIL LAURENSON

Worcester Green Party