AN Essex MP will return early from a three day fact-finding mission on the Turkey-Syria border to urge his colleagues to take action.

Yesterday, Prime Minister David Cameron announced MPs would be recalled to Parliament tomorrow to vote on action in Syria.

The Prime Minister said there would be a clear Government motion laid before MPs on the UK's response to the chemical weapons attack on the outskirts of Damascus that left hundreds dead.

Last night, Braintree MP Brooks Newmark was at a secret location on the Turkish border with Syria at the invitation of Free Syrian Army General Salim Idris.

Having already met opposition leaders in Istanbul, the Conservative MP spoke with soldiers on the border and was planning to visit refugee camps.

He said: “I find it personally very distressing that people can honestly believe that the opposition would gas and attack with chemicals its own people.

“Having spent time with the opposition and Assad, I would much rather believe the opposition on the ground.

“We now need a coalition of the willing to do something because otherwise more and more people will get killed.

“This is a humanitarian crisis of enormous proprtions and we need to do something to try and speed up the end of this civil war.”

Mr Newmark said he favoured action short of sending planes into Syrian air space or putting troops on the ground.

See Wednesday's newspaper for the full story