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George Osborne: "Very sad if we turned our back on world"
More evidence about a suspected chemical attack would not have made a difference to MPs' decision to vote against military action in Syria, the chancellor has said.
George Osborne told the BBC's Andrew Marr Show MPs were "sceptical of another foreign entanglement".
Despite the defeat, he said the government had shown confidence to take its argument to Parliament.
It comes as US President Barack Obama said he would seek Congress's approval.
Mr Obama said on Saturday he had decided the US should take military action against the Syrian regime, but that he would formally ask Congress to authorise military action.
'Parliament has spoken'Prime Minister David Cameron had pushed for military action following the suspected chemical weapons attack on 21 August on the outskirts of Damascus.
The US says it killed 1,429 people and was carried out by the Syrian government.
It is a claim that Syria's President Bashar al-Assad denies.
On Thursday, MPs blocked a motion to support military action if backed by evidence from UN weapons inspectors who, having left Damascus, arrived in the Netherlands on Saturday.
Their evidence, which includes samples from site visits will be tested in laboratories in Europe.
Mr Osborne said that waiting for more evidence would not have made a difference to the MPs' decision.
"They were sceptical of another foreign entanglement," he said.
"I understand their argument, I don't agree with it, and I don't feel frankly more evidence or another week or more UN reports would have convinced them."
Mr Osborne also indicated that the prime minister would not make a renewed attempt to persuade MPs to support military action even if there were fresh chemical weapons attacks or if new evidence emerged.
"Of course I wanted us to be part of a potential military response. Now that is just not going to be open to us now because the House of Commons has spoken," he said.
Mr Osborne denied that he and the prime minister had made a miscalculation by taking the vote to Parliament.
"Trying to get the consent of both your parliament and the public for a very difficult decision - in this case to deter the use of chemical weapons - but taken in the shadow of Iraq and a public war weariness, I think shows a confidence that you are prepared to make your argument."
'Failure of leadership'
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Douglas Alexander says the UK-US relationship is "strong, deep and I believe will endure"
President Obama's surprising decision to ask Congress for approval means that a strike that was thought to be imminent will now not go ahead before 9 September, when Congress reconvenes.
Labour Shadow Foreign Secretary Douglas Alexander said if Mr Cameron decided to return to Parliament for a second vote following Congress's decision, he would be going back on promises he made after Thursday's debate.
"The prime minister has now placed his own personal authority behind the statements that he made both at the despatch box and the following day that Britain won't participate in military action," he said.
"If he was now to return to the Commons and say, 'well, actually, because the president of the United States has now decided to go to the Congress I've changed my mind about what parliament was saying, what the British people were saying', I think that would weigh very heavily on the ability for him convince the public or Parliament that his judgment was sound."
Foreign Secretary William Hague told Sky News there "is some serious concern in other capitals, not just across the Atlantic but in European capitals as well" about Labour's decision to vote against taking action.
The Archbishop of York Dr John Sentamu told the Andrew Marr Show he did not think it was "wise" to take military action in Syria, saying it was important to wait for the weapons inspectors' report before acting.
It comes as the opposition Syrian National Coalition called Mr Obama's decision to delay possible military action a "failure of leadership", saying it could "embolden" President Assad's forces.
There has been no official statement from the Syrian government since Mr Obama's announcement, but CBS quoted Deputy Prime Minister Qadri Jamil as saying: "If the US has postponed its decision, or retreated... this invites ridicule from all sides."
Meanwhile in the Syrian capital, Damascus, there is some relief in the city among those who feared that US attacks could start this weekend, the BBC's Jeremy Bowen said.
More than 100,000 people are estimated to have died and at least 1.7 million refugees displaced since civil conflict erupted in Syria in March 2011.
The violence began when Syrian security forces clamped down on anti-government protests.
President Assad blames opposition forces for last week's attack and has said his country will defend itself against any Western "aggression".
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