Jeremy Corbyn has backed calls for Theresa May to resign ahead of this week’s general election.
In the wake of Saturday’s terrorist attack in London, the third major terror incident to hit the UK in as many months, May’s record as Home Secretary has been called into question.
The Labour leader pointed out yesterday (June 4) that during May’s six-year stint in the role, a total of 20,000 police officers had been cut across the country, potentially threatening people’s safety.
Asked if he would back calls for May to resign because of this, Corbyn told ITV: “Indeed I would, because 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.”
READ: Myth-busting – what Jeremy Corbyn really thinks about nuclear weapons, the IRA and more
Corbyn added later in the interview: “On the issues of policing – the Government has been warned repeatedly about police cuts, and the Police Federation and many others [have said] how 20,000 have gone down over the past seven years. “We’ve said we’d put 10,000 back immediately and also increase the number of security officers that are available, because clearly intelligence is a very important part of this.”
Ahead of the general election this Thursday (June 8), many polls have Corbyn gaining rapidly on May following a slow start to the campaign.