US action in Venezuela not legal, senior Labour MP says

US military action in Venezuela breaches international law and the UK must make clear it is “unacceptable”, the chairman of the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee said.

Dame Emily Thornberry has become the most senior Labor MP yet to criticize Donald Trump’s weekend attacks in the country that saw President Nicolas Maduro and his wife kidnapped.

The UK government has so far refused to say whether the move is illegal, insisting it is up to the Americans to determine the legal basis for the action.

But the US president’s actions were criticized by some Labor MPs as well as Liberal Democrats, Greens and SNP leaders.

Dame Emily told BBC Radio 4’s Westminster Hour that the strikes were “not a legal action” and that she “couldn’t think of anything that would be a suitable justification”.

He said Britain and its allies should collectively say, “We cannot violate international law like this. We cannot have the law of the jungle.”

He added: “We condemn Putin for doing this. We need to make it clear that Donald Trump should not do this either.

“People can’t do whatever they want. So we can’t really have some kind of international anarchy.”

Warning that the US’s action carries the risk of encouraging Russia and China, Trump said: “This idea that Trump is thinking about and growing [Russian President] So is Putin [Chinese President] Xi said that everyone should have their own sphere of influence, that other countries should not interfere, and that they should actually be able to do what they think is right, in the interests of their own country, in surrounding countries…

“President Putin will probably say: Ukraine is in my sphere of influence, why are you complaining? And Xi can say the same about Taiwan. This sets a terrible precedent and [is] It’s really worrying.”

A handful of Labor MPs, mostly on the party’s left, have so far publicly condemned US action in breaking international law.

But more people may criticize Britain’s response in the House of Commons, where the foreign secretary is expected to make a statement on developments in Venezuela.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has made his relationship with Donald Trump a key element of his foreign policy and has not condemned US attacks.

In an interview with the BBC on Monday, he again sidestepped questions about whether the military action was illegal.

He stressed that the UK “will always defend the rule of international law” but that the US “will have to justify the action it takes”.

“There was an illegitimate president who has now been impeached, and I don’t think anyone really shed a tear about it,” he said, calling for a “peaceful transition to democracy” as quickly as possible.

The UN Security Council, of which Britain is a permanent member, will meet later to discuss the US operation.

Previous minister Mike Tapp refused to say whether the UK would abstain from any vote on the legality of the action, saying he had not yet seen the “legal basis” for US strikes so a decision could not be made.

The government faces calls from some opposition parties to condemn the US military action, while the Liberal Democrats, the Green Party and the Scottish National Party have also criticized the attacks.

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey said Maduro was a “brutal and illegitimate dictator” but that “unlawful attacks like this make us all less safe”.

Green Party leader Zack Polanski also described the attacks as a violation of international law, while SNP’s John Swinney said it was “absolutely necessary for all nations to act within the international rules-based system.”

But the Conservative Party said it was important to understand all the facts about the operation before proceeding to judgment.

Shadow minister Alex Burghart said it was “completely understandable” that the US would take action against Venezuela at a time when there are powerful men.

“No matter what international lawyers say about whether this is legal or not, Maduro has not been following international law for a long time,” he added.

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said the US action was “unorthodox and contrary to international law” but said it could be a good thing if it made China and Russia “think twice”.

Venezuela’s leftist president and his wife, Cilia Flores, were flown from Caracas in a military operation jointly organized with US law enforcement.

They have since been charged with weapons and drug offenses in New York, where they are accused of enriching themselves from a violent criminal ring that smuggled cocaine into the United States and are expected to appear in court at a later date.

Maduro has long denied the allegations as an excuse to remove himself from power.

Trump vowed to “govern the country” until a “proper” transition of power was achieved, with Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodríguez later sworn in as interim president.