West Devon and Torridge MP Geoffrey Cox on Friday joined his fellow West Country MPs in calling for Prime Minister Tony Blair to publicly back an end to the fighting in the Middle East. Mr Cox believes there should be an immediate ceasefire by both sides to end the escalating death toll in the Lebanon and Israel. He supports a move by charity Oxfam South West to ask West Country MPs, including Liberal Democrats Nick Harvey, Adrian Sanders and Colin Breed, to demand that the Prime Minister uses his diplomatic weight to secure a ceasefire. Conservative Mr Cox agreed with his party leader David Cameron and shadow foreign minister William Hague that Israel?s response to rockets fired from Southern Lebanon on its towns and the kidnapping of its soldiers by Hizbullah was disproportionate. However, he told the Times: ?I think there should be an immediate ceasefire on both sides. Although you cannot expect Israel to stop if Hizbullah keeps firing rockets at them, the Israeli response could have been better targeted. ?The situation is very regrettable and I would like to see an immediate ceasefire, but it must be by both sides.? Roger James, of Oxfam South West, said: ?We sympathise with the difficult decisions MPs are having to make on this conflict but one thing we should all agree on is the need for immediate ceasefire. Of course, a longer-term solution is also needed. ?We urge all local MPs to add their name to the growing chorus of voices calling on the Prime Minister to put Britain?s weight behind an immediate ceasefire and use every possible diplomatic means to ensure that both sides stop fighting.?
