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Labour's Yvette Cooper acknowledges the government has "a responsibility to consider how to respond" to alleged inhumane acts, but points out Parliament has considered these matters in the past.

She says the prime minister appears to be "rejecting the entire principle of consulting, debating and voting in advance of military action".

Theresa May cites the Cabinet manual, which says that the government must ensure the armed forces' "ability to act quickly and decisively is not compromised", and she has come to Parliament "at the first opportunity to explain that decision".

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Image source, HoC

Liberal Democrat Leader Sir Vince Cable asks if the government will order fresh strikes in the event of further use of chemical weapons by the Syrian regime.

Mrs May says that the strikes were limited, and the intention was to degrade the weapons capability of the Syrian regime.

She says that there should not be a situation where the use of chemical weapons become normalised.

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Parliament

Image source, Hoc

SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford says that all MPs have an "absolute revulsion" to the use of chemical weapons.

He says the House should have been recalled in advance of the Saturday airstrikes. He asks if the prime minister will continue to perform military action without the will of Parliament.

Mrs May says that refugees are being helped and supported by the actions taken in the region, which allows the government to support the greatest number of refugees.

She adds that it is always necessary for the government to act quickly in some circumstances, but it is right that Parliament are discussing the matter now.

It is possible that some information won't be able to be shared with Parliament, but the government will be as open as possible where it can be, she says.

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Image source, HoC

Conservative Ken Clarke says he fully supports these targeted strikes, noting it takes "a real prime minister" to face up to such a decision.

But he complains that debates on the strikes were being held everywhere except Parliament, which he claims goes against historical precedent.

He calls for a cross-party commission to re-examine the role of Parliament in the decision to take military action.

Theresa May defends her actions, insisting: "Parliament will hold me to account."

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Theresa May responds to say that everyone in the House recognises the nature of the conflict and the impact it has had on the Syrian people.

The UK is now the second biggest bilateral donor to Syrian refugees in the region at almost £2.5bn, she says, and the UK continues to support and be grateful to all those who support refugees in the region, especially Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan.

It is important for all parties to come together to discuss and ensure a long term solution for Syria, she says.

What sets the situation apart was the use of chemical weapons, she continues, adding that we cannot allow a situation to develop, where countries believe using chemical weapons has been normalised.

The OPCW is being stopped from their investigation in Douma, she adds.

The strikes were carefully targeted and it was ensured that they would only attack the chemical weapons of the regime, she adds.

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Image source, HoC

Responding to the statement, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn says that what happened in Douma was "horrific" but the PM ought to be "accountable to this Parliament not the whims of the US president", prompting cries of "shame" from Conservative MPs.

He calls for a War Powers Act in order to turn "a broken convention into legal obligation" regarding the requirement for Parliament to be consulted.

"There's no more serious issue than the life and death question of military action," he tells MPs.

He goes on to ask if Theresa May pushed for the airstrikes to be brought forward, and describes the strikes as "legally questionable" since force should only be used if it is in self-defence or if authorised by the UN Security Council.

He urges the government to take action to halt humanitarian suffering in Yemen, before calling for full chemical weapons inspections to take place in Syria.

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Theresa May says that the buildings hit by the airstrikes were weapons bunkers and research centres for chemical weapons, storage and command.

"Very careful scientific analysis" was used in order to work out how best to hit the facility, to reduce the risk of civilian casualties and how best to damage the chemical weapons stored by the regime.

MPs will note that Russia has not reported "any loss of equipment or personnel" as a result of the strikes, Mrs May says.

She states that the government did not wait for the results of the OPCW report as in previous cases the regime was found to be responsible.

There were clearly attempts to block any important investigation, she says, from Russian efforts in the area. Russia has been vetoing the UN Security Council resolutions, meaning the UK cannot wait to alleviate humanitarian suffering.

She says that the UK were not acting on the orders of the US, and were operating in the UK's national interest.

The Gulf Co-operation Council and other international bodies have expressed their approval of the strikes, she adds.

The UK government did not recall Parliament and she says there is no legal basis to say that Parliament must be recalled before such a strike.

It is her responsibility as prime minister to make such decisions, she says.

Ex-Labour attorney general Lord Morris said he approved 1999 bombings on humanitarian grounds.

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Image source, HoC

The Prime Minister, Theresa May, is giving a statement on airstrikes made in Syria at the weekend.

She says that independent experts concluded that civilians were exposed to a chemical attack.

The Syrian regime has been attempting to conceal the evidence by searching evacuees from Douma, she states, with these actions being supported by the Russians.

The images of the children and families attacked are "haunting," and it is a "stain on humanity" that this can take place at this time, she goes on.

No other group could have operated the attack, other than the Syrian regime, she says, and the Islamic State group do not even have a presence in the area, she adds.

The UK judged that the regime would have continued to attack its own civilians if action was not taken. The UN was unable to work on the issue due to Russia's veto on the UN Security Council, she adds, saying that this would continue to mean a Russian veto on British foreign policy.

Diplomatic action on its own is not going to work, the PM tells MPs.

It was not about intervening in a civil war or about regime change, it was done to reduce the humanitarian suffering of the Syrian people, she says.

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Image source, Ministry of Defence

The prime minister is making a statement on the air strikes carried out at the weekend by the United States, UK and France.

Sites near Damascus and Homs were hit on Saturday in response to an alleged chemical attack in a rebel held area of Douma on 7 April. The Syrian government denies using chemical weapons.

The air strikes went ahead without any debate in Parliament or the approval of MPs. UK military action does not require the assent of Parliament, but votes have been held before UK involvement in conflicts since the 2003 war in Iraq.

Opposition parties have said that Parliament should have been consulted, while the Labour Party has questioned the legality of the strikes.

Later today there is expected to be an application for an emergency debate on the strikes by Labour backbencher Alison McGovern.

The government has also tabled a statement by the Leader of the House, Andrea Leadsom, who could announce a longer debate on the strikes for later in the week.

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Theresa May has arrived in the chamber ahead of her statement on the military action in Syria.

We'll be onto that statement shortly...

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Parliament

Several Labour MPs including Debbie Abrahams and Marsha de Cordova point out that the government could restore protections for Commonwealth citizens, which were removed by Theresa May as home secretary via statutory instrument.

Amber Rudd says she'll "come back to that" idea.

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Home Affairs Committee Chair Yvette Cooper says that the Home Office has been repeatedly warned that there are problems with the "hostile environment" policy

She states there should be a "huge review" across the whole of the Home Office rather than just suspending deportations.

Ms Rudd states that there are no individual numbers for the Windrush generation as they were not identified as such when they came to the UK.

She states that the government will work with these people and there will be no cost to them.