Give the UN 'unfettered' access, Straw will tell Iraq

The Foreign Secretary will tell the United Nations today that the international community "cannot stand by and do nothing" while Iraq continues to defy its authority.

In an address to the General Assembly in New York, Jack Straw will warn Saddam Hussein that the only way he can avoid a military strike is by giving UN inspectors unfettered access to his weapons programmes. "We have to be clear to Iraq and to ourselves about the consequences which will flow from the failure by Iraq to meet its obligations," he will say.

Yesterday Mr Straw said the "dismal truth" about the Iraqi regime was that it would not respond to pressure unless it felt there was a genuine threat of being attacked. He gave no deadline for President Saddam, but said that since President Bush's address to the United Nations on Thursday, there had been a "striking" mood change among world governments.

Yesterday the British Government faced claims that senior Labour Party members were planning to resign if it backed action against Iraq without a UN mandate. Ann Black, a member of Labour's national executive committee, warned that many Labour members were so alarmed by Mr Blair's stance that they were considering leaving the party and in despair.

Ms Black said on The World at One on BBC Radio 4: "That is what those people are saying to me – that they are considering resigning – and also they say most party members they know are taking the same position, that they are also alarmed and very disturbed at what is happening.

"A lot of members are in despair and the only thing that keeps them in the party is knowing there are at least some people in the leadership of the party who share their concerns and who would voice them."

Mark Seddon, a left-wing member of the NEC, said the Labour Party could be seriously damaged if Mr Blair pressed ahead with action. He was planning to put a resolution about Iraq to the NEC to force a vote. "The Prime Minister has not consulted his Cabinet, and Parliament will meet for the first time, and I wonder if he is aware of the strength of feeling out there in the country and in his own party," he said.

Chris Smith, the former secretary of state for culture, will express grave doubts this weekend over Tony Blair's policy on Iraq. But he will also say he hopes members of the Cabinet will rein him in. "I hope the Cabinet will be saying to the Prime Minister you know, 'Hang on a moment, it's British interests, it's global interests that matter primarily here, it's not just American interests'," he will say on GMTV's The Sunday Programme.

Mr Smith will warn that an attack on Iraq will fragment the international coalition on defeating terrorism cemented after 11 September. He will say there are not the clear "moral reasons" for attacking Iraq that were evident in the cases of Afghanistan or Kosovo.

But yesterday Peter Mandelson, the former Northern Ireland secretary, rallied to the Prime Minister's defence and said his loyalty to America had boosted his influence. "I don't believe if the Prime Minister had acted differently, if he hadn't engaged and hadn't demonstrated a degree of loyalty as an ally of the United States that he would have been able to exercise the influence that he has and to persuade the American administration as he clearly has to work through and with the United Nations."

The Liberal Democrats urged Gordon Brown to conduct an economic risk assessment of military action against Iraq. Matthew Taylor, the Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman, asked him for evidence of the potential effect on oil prices before Parliament is recalled this month.

The Chancellor has rejected reports of a split with Mr Blair over Iraq, calling for an international effort to tackle the regime. "I fully support the Prime Minister in all these issues and I think that is well understood," he said.