An MP has expressed his support on the decision to carry out air strikes in Syria.

Hertsmere MP Oliver Dowden has openly backed Prime Minister Theresa May's decision after she was criticised for not seeking parliamentary approval before the strikes were carried out on Saturday.

After listening to Mrs May's speech on Syria at the Houses of Parliament yesterday, Mr Dowden said: "I support her decision to launch targeted strikes to degrade the Assad regime’s capacity for using chemical weapons. We cannot allow the deliberate use of these outlawed weapons on unarmed civilians to go unchallenged.

"As the Prime Minister set out, military action needs to be part of a wider diplomatic effort to end the suffering in Syria."

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has accused Mrs May's actions of being "legally questionable" and said that she should be "accountable to the UK parliament and not to the whims of the US president", Donald Trump.

But the Prime Minister has said it was "legally and morally right" for the UK to join air strikes against the Syrian regime to prevent "further human suffering".

The UK carried out joint strikes with France and the USA on Saturday in response to an alleged chemical attack on the city of Douma in Syria on April 7.

MPs held the first of two emergency debates on Syria yesterday which were approved by speaker John Bercow, with the second to take place today.

Monday's debate ended with a vote, forced by the SNP, on whether the house had sufficiently debated the matter of Syria.

The government won the motion by 314 to 36 votes, a majority of 278.