An MP has spoken out against military intervention in Syria and Iraq.

North East Cambs MP Steve Barclay, in a speech in the House of Commons on Wednesday, also raised concerns about the UK’s record in supplying arms to Middle East regimes who have helped finance IS.

He said: “Before we commit UK military resource, we should challenge the Sunni Gulf States that we have supplied arms to and that have deep pockets.

“It will help us address the issue of radicalisation in the UK if the fight against odious regimes is led by fellow Sunnis rather than western intervention.”

It is too late to worry about the financing of the extremist group Islamic State (IS) as they have been in place for three years and are now largely self-financing, the North East Cambs MP added.

He said: “IS has been in place for three years and is now largely self-financing. It has got money from Mosul, where it had a significant windfall, and it controls areas of Syria. On the issue of its financing, the horse has bolted.”

In a separate article published in the Spectator magazine this week, Mr Barclay opposed air strikes,

He said: “In Iraq, we should seek to detach the majority of Sunni tribal leaders – provoked by incompetence in Baghdad – from Islamic State.

“That will not be achieved by Western airstrikes, which risk uniting tribal leaders rather than dividing them – particularly when bombs hit the wrong target.

“Sales of arms to the Gulf States are nothing new, but the time has come to challenge the silence around the role of their recipients in the creation of the so-called Islamic State.

“UK airstrikes alongside the US looks like Groundhog Day. It is time for the Gulf States to come off the fence.”