The UK Senior Labour MP, Dame Emily Thornberry, has said the military action in Venezuela broke international law and should be clearly condemned by the United Kingdom.
She is the most high-ranking Labour figure so far to criticise President Donald Trump after US strikes at the weekend led to the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife.
The UK government has not said whether the US action was illegal. Instead, it says the US must explain the legal reasons for what it did.
However, the strikes have been criticised by Labour MPs and by leaders of the Liberal Democrats, Green Party and the SNP.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Westminster Hour, Dame Emily said the strikes were “not a legal action” and she “cannot think of anything that could be a proper justification”.
She said the UK and its allies should take a clear stand and say: “we cannot have breaches of international law like this. We cannot have the law of the jungle.”
She added: “We condemn Putin for doing it. We need to make clear that Donald Trump shouldn’t be doing it either.
“People just can’t do whatever they want. I mean, we really can’t have a kind of international anarchy.”
Dame Emily warned that the US action could encourage Russia and China to behave in the same way.
She said: “This growing idea that Trump thinks, and so does [Russian President] Putin and so does [Chinese President] Xi, that they should all have their spheres of influence and that other countries should not get involved and they should be able to essentially do what they think is the right thing to do, what they want to do in the interests of their country, in the countries in the surrounding area…
“President Putin will presumably say, well, Ukraine is in my sphere of influence – what are you complaining about? And Xi may well say that about Taiwan. It sets a terrible precedent and [is] really worrying.”
Only a small number of Labour MPs have so far said publicly that the US broke international law. More criticism is expected in Parliament later, when the foreign secretary gives a statement.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has not criticised the US strikes. He has made his relationship with Donald Trump an important part of his foreign policy.
He told the BBC that he wanted to wait until all the facts were clear before deciding if the strikes were illegal. He also said he is a “lifelong advocate of international law”.
Home Office Minister Mike Tapp said Maduro “was an evil, illegitimate dictator who tortured people” and claimed Venezuela was “a safer place” now he was no longer in power.
“What we need to see now is a democratic, safe, peaceful transition of power,” he said.
“We’ve been really clear that we will always abide by international law as a nation.”
Tapp said it was a “complex” issue and repeated that “it’s for the United States to lay out its legal basis for what it’s done”.
He added that the UK would talk to the US and its allies before making a decision.
The UN Security Council, which includes the UK, is due to meet to discuss the US action.
Opposition parties are calling on the government to condemn the strikes. The Liberal Democrats, Greens and SNP have all criticised the US move.
Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey said Maduro was “a brutal and illegitimate dictator” but warned that “unlawful attacks like this make us all less safe”.
Green Party leader Zack Polanski said the strikes broke international law. SNP leader John Swinney said it was “absolutely essential that all nations act within the international rules based system”.
The Conservative Party said it was important to wait for all the facts before judging the US action.
Shadow minister Alex Burghart said it was “totally understandable” for the US to act against Venezuela.
“Whatever international lawyers say about whether this was legal or not, Maduro had not been following international law for some considerable time,” he said.
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said the action was “unorthodox and contrary to international law” but could be positive if it made China and Russia “think twice”.
Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were taken out of Caracas in a joint US military and law enforcement operation.
They now face weapons and drug charges in New York. US officials say they made money from a violent group that smuggled cocaine into the US.
Maduro has denied the claims and says they are an excuse to remove him from power.
Donald Trump has said he will “run the country” until there is a “proper” transfer of power. Venezuela’s Vice-President Delcy Rodríguez is expected to become interim president.