By Ahmet Gurhan Kartal
LONDON
As election campaigning resumed in the aftermath of last Monday’s deadly suicide bombing in Manchester, Prime Minister Theresa May on Friday hit out at remarks by the Labour Party leader linking terrorism at home to British intervention in foreign lands.
"Jeremy Corbyn has said that terror attacks in Britain are our own fault,” May told a press conference following a G7 summit in Italy.
May added that Corbyn had “chosen to do that just a few days after one of the worst terrorist atrocities we have experienced in the United Kingdom."
The war of words coincided with a new poll ahead of the June 8 snap election suggesting that the Tory lead has shrunken to 5 percent.
The YouGov poll said their first poll since the Manchester terrorist attack show that the Conservatives now lead Labour by 5 points (43 percent to 38 percent).
Last weekend’s YouGov poll showed the Tories with 44 percent and Labour with 35 percent.
"There can never be an excuse for terrorism. There can never be an excuse for what happened in Manchester," May added.
She underlined that voters have a choice "between me working strongly to protect the national interest and Jeremy Corbyn who, frankly, isn't up to the job".
May said in a statement in Sicily that the G7 leaders agreed "the threat from Daesh is evolving rather than disappearing -- as they lose ground in Iraq and Syria, foreign fighters are returning and the group’s hateful ideology is spreading online."
"We agreed a range of steps the G7 could take to strengthen its work with tech companies on this vital agenda. And ministers will meet soon to take this forward," May said.
She said they want "companies to develop tools to identify and remove harmful material automatically."
"And in particular I want to see them report this vile content to the authorities, and block the users who spread it."
May said more work should also be done to "cooperate with our partners in the region to step up returns and prosecutions of foreign fighters."
"This means improving intelligence-sharing, evidence-gathering, and bolstering countries’ police and legal processes," she added.
What did Corbyn say?
Corbyn said earlier Friday that "many experts" had linked British involvement in wars abroad to terrorism at home and that if elected prime minister, he would change the U.K.’s foreign policy to one that "reduces rather than increases the threat" to the country.
Later, interviewed by the BBC, Corbyn also said he would review British defense policies to "look at the role of nuclear weapons."
"I want to achieve a nuclear-free world through multi-lateral disarmament, through the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty," Corbyn said.
Corbyn earlier said there was a “smarter way to reduce the threat from countries that nurture terrorists and generate terrorism”.
Linking terror attacks with military interventions abroad, the Labour leader argued that experts “have pointed to the connections between wars our government has supported or fought in other countries and terrorism here at home".
Corbyn, as one of the staunchest opponents of the 2003 invasion of Iraq, criticized British involvement in Syria and suggested he would refuse a NATO request for more U.K. troops abroad if he becomes prime minister after the June 8 election.
Corbyn also said the suicide bomber who killed 22 people in Manchester is no more representative of British Muslims than the far-right extremist who murdered a lawmaker last year.
Security after Manchester
Home Secretary Amber Rudd said Friday the terror threat level in the U.K. will remain “critical” for now.
The threat level was raised to “critical” on Tuesday from “severe,” which means a terror attack is imminent and British army members were deployed to assist nationwide security.
Commuter trains saw armed police officers during Friday’s journeys.
Meanwhile, police said there are nine individuals in custody in relation to the suicide bombing, for which 22-year old Salman Abedi remains the main suspect.
A 44-year old man who was arrested in connection to the bombing Friday evening brought the total arrest number to 11, but a 16-year old man and a woman were released without charges, according to Greater Manchester police.
The explosion targeted a concert event and killed 22 people and injured more than 60 others.
Hate crimes
Senior police officer Ian Hopkins from the Manchester police force warned that incidents of hate crimes have risen in Manchester since the attack. The number of reported hate attacks on Wednesday numbered 56.
A mosque in Oldham was targeted by unidentified arsonists shortly after the concert attack.
Hopkins said these numbers cannot be directly linked to the attack.
"Manchester has come together this week... but it is important we continue to stand together, particularly against some of the hate-filled views that we have seen from a very small minority of the community that have no place here in Greater Manchester,” he said.
