BRITAIN’S politicians were accused of ignoring the will of the British people in favour of imperialist intervention — yet again — yesterday as RAF bombs fell on Syria.

Within hours of Wednesday’s 397-223 vote to begin air raids against Isis targets, aircraft took off on their first bombing run, to the fury and despair of protesters and peace activists.

The outcome has been labelled “eerily reminiscent” of the 2003 vote on the illegal Iraq invasion.

Responding to Wednesday’s Commons vote in favour of extending bombing campaigns into the civil-war-torn country, Stop the War Coalition chair Andrew Murray and convener Lindsey German said the decision was “profoundly mistaken and dangerous.”

“The Prime Minister made no good case for war,” they said in a joint statement, “and his abuse of those who differ as ‘terrorist sympathisers’ gives a measure of his small-mindedness.

“There is no good case for British air strikes in a war which is already seeing the two major military powers, the US and Russia, bombing Syria.

“A new war will not increase the prospects of peace in Syria, nor will the British people be safer from terrorism. And the record of two years’ bombing of Isis in Iraq shows that it will not be dislodged by a great-power air war.”

Anti-war protesters attending the Stop the War rally also reacted furiously after the vote.

Loud boos erupted from the crowd which had gathered outside the Palace of Westminster to hear the outcome.

Grace Tennant, a student from Birmingham, said: “It is about human lives. It’s a moral argument.

“Britain won’t be safer because of this, we’ll become less safe.”

There were shouts of: “Shame on you” as news of the vote spread through the hundreds-strong crowd.

Protesters held a minute’s silence against the decision to launch a bombing campaign. Many sat down and flicked the peace sign before chanting: “Not in my name.”

Colin Crilly, from London, said: “I’m disappointed but not surprised, it just shows the disconnect between the public and elected officials.

“I fear that this will mean the cycle of violence will just continue.”

CND general secretary Kate Hudson called the vote “a devastating blow” for both innocents who “face a rain of death and destruction from our bombers” and against “our collective humanity and universal principles of peace and justice.”

She told the Star: “What will it take for decision-makers to learn the lessons of the last 14 years of the so-called War on Terror?

“Contrary to media spin, this is not a policy that has majority support at home. Polls indicate that at least half the population are opposed to it, and that opposition is likely to grow as the situation worsens and mission creep sets in.”

Among those who voted in favour were 66 Labour MPs, including shadow foreign secretary Hilary Benn.