Alison McGovern paid tribute to her murdered colleague Jo Cox during an emergency debate on Syria today.
In tears, the Labour MP said she was taking up Cox’s mantle, who would have wanted the UK to take “many more” Syrian refugees, “much more quickly”.
“She would have been here and she would have known what was needed”, McGovern said.
During the debate other Labour MPs rallied to condemn the bombing in Aleppo, and called for cross-party unity on the issue.
This follows unease in the party after Jeremy Corbyn said at a meeting last night that Russia had only “apparently” bombed civilian targets in Syria.
Guardian journalist Patrick Wintour tweeted that Labour’s briefing for Tuesday’s debate also failed to be clear about Putin’s role in the bombings.
On Sunday Labour leader was heckled at an anti-war meeting, and urged to “speak out on Syria” in an open letter from Momentum activists.
“We ask that you condemn, clearly and specifically, the actions of Assad and Russia in Syria”, the letter said.
During the debate today MP Gapes called for “unanimous” cross party support on the issue.
“In the 1930s there was a united condemnation of what the Nazis and their airforce were doing in Spain in support for a fascist regime”, he said.
“Isn’t it time we had a united, unambiguous, explicit, direct condemnation of what Putin is doing in support of Assad in Aleppo at this moment, not just from the government but from the opposition benches unanimously?”
During the debate Andrew Mitchell told MPs western air forces must be willing to confront Russian military jets in Syria to enforce a no-fly zone over eastern Aleppo.
The west has been criticised for lacking of action and leverage over Russia in Syria.