May attacks Corbyn as her support hits new low

UK Prime Minister Theresa May has used the recent bombing in Manchester to attack Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, in an attempt to slow down her main opponent’s growing popularity less than two weeks to the June 8 general election.

Speaking at a press conference on the sidelines of this year’s G7 summit on Friday, May accused Corbyn of implying that Britain was to blame for the attack that killed 22 people during a concert.

“Jeremy Corbyn has said that terror attacks in Britain are our own fault and he’s chosen to do that just a few days after one of the worst atrocities we have experienced in the United Kingdom,” she said.

“I want to make it clear: there can never ever be an excuse for terrorism,” she added.

“The choice people face at the general election is stark - me, working to protect our security or Jeremy Corbyn who frankly isn’t up to the job,” the premier further argued.

The remarks came after a YouGov poll showed on Friday that Labour was trailing the ruling Conservative Party 38 - 43 percent, cutting down an initially large gap between the tow parties to only five percent.

This is an alarming drop in support for May, whose party was 23 points ahead when she called for a snap general election in mid-April.

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The Times newspaper, which commissioned the poll, said Labour’s rising support means the Tories would lose up to 10 seats of their current 330-seats majority in the 650-seat House of Commons, the lower chamber of the UK Parliament.

May is hoping to win a stronger majority in the parliament to cement her position in negotiations with the European Union over the UK’s withdrawal from the bloc.

When asked about the survey’s findings on Friday, May said the only poll that mattered was the election.

“There's a clear choice for people to take in the knowledge that eleven days later those negotiations will start” she said.

Labour’s rise in support is linked to the new Labour manifesto, “For The Many Not The Few,” which was unveiled by Corbyn on May 16.

The Tories on the other hand have experienced a fallout over, among other promises, the so-called “dementia tax” on care costs of older people introduced in their manifesto.

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