Rebel MP visits refugee camps

Paul Marsden wants to see the situation for himself

A Labour MP who clashed with the government over the bombing in Afghanistan is on a visit to the region to see how civilians have been affected.

Paul Marsden, MP for Shrewsbury and Atcham, is to spend a week touring refugee camps in Pakistan's border areas with Afghanistan and speaking to government officials and aid agencies.

Time is running out for the innocent civilians, the hundreds and thousands who are starving to death

Labour MP Paul Marsden

Mr Marsden, who hit the headlines last month over a row with party chief whip Hilary Armstrong, told the BBC he was very concerned that a massive humanitarian crisis was developing.

He said he wanted to see the situation for himself - in particular, to establish whether the war was preventing aid getting through to civilians who needed it.

Mr Marsden is worried that war means aid is not getting through

Speaking from Islamabad, he said he would be happy if his visit embarrassed the British and American governments into stepping up their aid efforts.

"These are innocent civilians who are caught up in this terrible conflict and then they are paying the price for September 11.

"It isn't right and it is about time we got the food in."

"Time is running out for the innocent civilians, the hundreds and thousands who are starving to death."

He said that aid agencies were saying that not enough food was getting through to those in need.

Ahead of his trip, he warned that if he found this to be the case, he would tell ministers that they have to change their policies.

'Healthy debate'

Mr Marsden described himself as a "critical friend" of the government and said it was "very disappointing" that there had still been no proper parliamentary debate over the campaign.

Marsden: There should be more room for dissenting voices

And he said it was time for the party to make room for more dissenting voices over the coalition response to the US terrorist attacks.

"We have too many politicians who simply follow the party line, come what may, it doesn't matter what their conscience tells them...

"There's nothing wrong with a healthy debate, and questioning and so on, and getting to the root of what people really want, and representing people's interests - that is what I'm trying to do."

He added that instead of the current bombing campaign, he would like to see military action governed by UN rules and more strictly targeting terrorists.

"That means that you do not carpet bomb. You send in special forces, you use the military availability but you do it under the control of the United Nations as outlined in their articles...and particularly you need to get more Muslim states involved."

Clash with whip

Mr Marsden caused a furore last month when he took the unusual step of putting on record the conversation he had had with Ms Armstrong.

He said the chief whip had told him war was not a matter of conscience, and had compared Labour opponents of the bombing campaign with people who tried to appease Hitler in the 1930s.

Prime Minister Tony Blair has since said MPs are entitled to hold their own opinions on the campaign.

On Friday Mr Marsden said he had informed his party of the trip, which is unofficial and paid for by himself, but had had no reply.