Theresa May avoids questions over whether MPs will get a vote on UK military action in Syria

Theresa May has sidestepped questions over whether Parliament will vote on military action against Syria, just hours after Donald Trump promised missile strikes in the country.

The Prime Minister said the UK and its allies would ensure the alleged chemical weapons attack in Douma does not go unchallenged, adding that all the indications are that the Syrian regime is to blame.

In her strongest words yet, she also accused Russia of closing down any possibility of investigating the attack through the United Nations after it vetoed a motion at the UN Security Council.

Pressure on Ms May to recall Parliament is increasing after Jeremy Corbyn issued a demand for a vote before British forces are deployed, but Ms May will want to coordinate British forces with the US which has promised action imminently.

Asked about recalling Parliament while on a trip to Birmingham on Wednesday, she said Britain would work with its “closest ally to see how those responsible can be held to account” for the Douma attack, which is said to have killed between 40 and 70 and left some 500 needing treatment.

The PM said she was “appalled” but “not surprised” by Russia’s decision to veto a draft UN resolution which sought to create a new body to determine responsibility for the attack, adding: “There can be no role now for investigations by the United Nations.”

Earlier in the day, Mr Trump tweeted that Russia should “get ready” for missiles to be fired at Syria, and that they would be “nice and new and ‘smart!’”.

Ms May said: “We are working with our allies, we have been working to get an understanding of what happened on the ground.

“We are rapidly reaching that understanding.

“All the indications are that the Syrian regime was responsible and we will be working with our closest allies on how we can ensure that those who are responsible are held to account, and how we can prevent and deter the humanitarian catastrophe that comes from the use of chemical weapons in the future – the continued use of chemical weapons cannot go unchallenged.”

With Mr Trump promising retribution and UK fighter jets poised for action in Cyprus, Ms May faces pressure from within her own party to give Parliament a vote before any action is taken.

It intensified after Mr Corbyn also said there should be a Commons vote, with the Labour leader himself likely to oppose any move to send military forces into action.

But there are also believed to be between 30 and 50 Labour MPs who could be willing to back deploying UK forces, making the parliamentary arithmetic of any vote complex and difficult to predict.

Russia’s ambassador to Lebanon, Alexander Zasypkin, escalated tensions earlier in the day with a threat to target planes and ships which fire at Assad’s military assets

Moscow’s state news agency TASS also reported on Wednesday that Russian military police would enter Douma on Thursday, raising the prospect of Russian personnel being injured in any Western attack.The World Health Organization has said 43 people died in Douma from “symptoms consistent with exposure to highly toxic chemicals”.

The figure, specifically for those whose symptoms were linked to chemical exposure, is slightly lower than the 70 reported dead over all previously.