Labour leader urges Conservative PM to resign over police cuts
Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn has called on British Prime Minister Theresa May to resign for reducing the number of police officers during her six years as interior minister, which has allowed terrorists to attack the country three times in recent months.
Asked in a television interview on Monday if he backed the calls for May, who served as interior minister from 2010 to 2016, to quit in the wake of three terrorist attacks in three months in the country, Corbyn said, "Indeed I would... We should never have cut the police numbers."
"There's been calls made by a lot of very responsible people on this who are very worried that she was at the Home Office for all this time, presided over these cuts in police numbers and is now saying that we have a problem -- yes, we do have a problem: we should never have cut the police numbers," he said.
Britain will vote in a national election on Thursday, just days after three attackers targeted the heart of London. Seven people were killed and 48 injured when the assailants in a white van mowed down pedestrians on London Bridge before stabbing a police officer and revelers in bars around Borough Market.
"We've got an election on Thursday and that's perhaps the best opportunity to deal with it,” Corbyn reiterated.
May however insisted the Metropolitan Police Service of London were "well resourced" and has "very powerful counter-terrorism capabilities.”
The premier said she would not resign, adding that the election is about who has the leadership to guide the country move forward.
She went on to claim that only she and the Conservatives have the vision to take the UK forward.
Meanwhile, London Mayor Sadiq Khan and city police chief Cressida Dick visited London Bridge on Monday, as commuters returned to the scene of the attacks in central part of the city.
"A very high priority for us is to try to understand whether they were working with anybody else," Dick said.
She said crime scene police officers had seized "a huge amount of forensic material" after examining the van used in the incident.
"We will change and adapt to what appears to be a new reality for us," she said.
The terror attack in London comes as Corbyn has cut down the gap between his party and May’s Conservatives to only one point, raising the stakes in the June 8 general election.
The poll commissioned by The Mail on Sunday put Labour behind the ruling Conservatives 39 to 40, hinting at a 6-point drop in support for May’s party from the same poll two weeks ago.
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