Draft Resolution for Labour Conference on Iraq

Members of the Labour Party are encouraged to urgently contact their local branch to ask that they submit the following Contemparary Resolution for Labour Party Conference which begins on 29 September:

Conference is aware of:

a) the view of government lawyers made public on 29 July, that no United Nations mandate exists for war on Iraq and that Britain's participation in an invasion would be illegal under international law.

b) the view of most western experts, including former weapons inspector Scott Ritter, that no evidence exists to substantiate claims that Iraq is developing weapons of mass destruction.

c) the growing opposition to war on Iraq, which now extends from former chief of defence staff Field Marshall Lord Brammell to the new Archbishop of Canterbury Ronan Williams and includes many party members and affiliates.

Conference believes that:

d) all nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction are of concern, including those of the United States which George Bush has made clear he wishes to be able to use on a first-strike basis;

e) a war on Iraq would bring further instability to the entire region,

f) diplomatic and political solutions to the situation in Iraq should be sought within the framework of international law,

Therefore conference:

g) congratulates those Labour MPs who have made public their unease over a war with Iraq;

h) welcomes the news that the Prime Minister is rethinking his support for the Bush administration's pursuit of military action against Iraq; and

i) urges the British government not to support a war on Iraq.