MPs to hear from Rishi Sunak after strikes in Yemen

Rishi Sunak will talk to members of Parliament for the first time since the UK joined US attacks on Houthi targets in Yemen.

The government will consider more strikes against the armed group if they keep attacking ships in the Red Sea, the Defence Secretary said on BBC News.

Mr Shapps said the UK does not want to get involved in a long-term plan in the Red Sea.

“We just want to be able to ship things to other countries. ”

The defense secretary told BBC Breakfast that if the Houthis don’t stop, there may be more attacks.

We really hope they will learn from this and stop bothering ships.

He also supported the government’s choice to attack the Houthis without discussing it or holding a vote in parliament first.

The prime minister is in trouble because he ordered the strikes without talking to other politicians first. He said the strikes were for self-protection.

Mr Shapps said that giving too much information to the Houthis would not have been a good idea.

“We had to do something. ” Actually, we did that after talking to parliament a lot. With the person speaking, the leader of the other party, and others.

He said the strikes, which hit 16 Houthi rebel sites, were a small but fair action. He hopes it shows that thugs can’t disrupt international shipping like that.

He said that the strikes were meant to show Iran a message because he believes they are helping the Houthis, a group that controls the north of Yemen and its capital Sanaa.

He also said no to the Houthi’s claim that they were only attacking ships connected to Israel. He explained that ships from 50 different countries have been attacked.

After the attacks, the US said it stopped a missile that was shot at one of its warships from a Houthi area in Yemen on Sunday. Nobody got hurt.

The group’s attacks on cargo ships have made big shipping companies change their routes and go around southern Africa instead of through the Red Sea. Some ships that are attacked don’t seem to have any connection to Israel.

Mr Sunak will talk about the strikes on Houthi places in the House of Commons today.

This is the first time Mr. Sunak has chosen to join the military in action since becoming prime minister in October 2022, which is an important moment in his political career.

He will probably be asked today if the UK will join in more attacks and what the government is doing to prevent a bigger conflict in the area.

Conservative MPs have mostly approved of Mr Sunak’s decision this weekend.

Sir Keir Starmer, the leader of the Labour party, was told about the strikes before they happened. He said he agreed with the strikes and wants Parliament to talk about it.

He said that keeping the country safe is the most important thing. “Sometimes there are emergencies where Parliament can’t be asked before making a decision. ”

But Layla Moran from the Liberal Democrats said that Parliament should be able to talk about and decide on military action. And Jeremy Corbyn, who used to be the leader of the Labour Party, said it’s very wrong that Parliament wasn’t even asked for their opinion.

The government doesn’t have to ask for permission from Parliament before using the military. However, in the recent years, it has become a tradition for the Commons to usually be able to talk about sending military forces before it happens.

Speaking about the criticism, Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron said on Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg: “I don’t think it was right to have a discussion and a vote before taking this action, because it’s important for security reasons to take action first and then talk about it in Parliament later. “