Corbyn: UK wars made us target for jihadists
JEREMY Corbyn will make a controversial intervention in the terror debate today by claiming that Britain’s foreign policy has heightened the risk of attacks on home soil.
Four days after the suicide bombing that killed 22 people, the Labour leader will claim successive governments have put the country at risk by sending troops to fight Islamic State and other extremists abroad.
He will also accuse the Conservatives of trying to protect Britain ‘on the cheap’ by making cuts to the police.
Returning to the election campaign trail after a three-day truce, Mr Corbyn is likely to face claims that he is using the Manchester tragedy to boost his campaign.
In a speech in Westminster, the Labour leader will say: ‘No government can prevent every terrorist attack – if an individual is determined enough and callous enough, sometimes they will get through.
‘But the responsibility of government is to minimise that chance – to ensure the police have the resources they need, that our foreign policy reduces rather than increases the threat to this country and that at home we never surrender the freedoms we have won and that terrorists are so determined to take away.’
Mr Corbyn will highlight how police numbers have fallen, saying: ‘To keep you and your family safe, our approach will involve change at home and change abroad.
‘At home, Labour will reverse the cuts to our emergency services and police. Once again in Manchester, they have proved to be the best of us. Austerity has to stop at the A&E ward and at the police station door. We cannot be protected and cared for on the cheap.
‘There will be more police on the streets under a Labour government. And if the security services need more resources to keep track of those who wish to murder and maim, then they should get them.’
Mr Corbyn, who has signalled that he could bring home all British soldiers from abroad, will also link military interventions in other countries with atrocities by jihadists in the UK.
‘Many experts, including professionals in our intelligence and security services, have pointed to the connections between wars our government has supported or fought in other countries and terrorism here at home,’ he will say. ‘That assessment in no way reduces the guilt of those who attack our children. Those terrorists will forever be reviled and held to account for their actions.
‘But an informed understanding of the causes of terrorism is an essential part of an effective response that will protect the security of our people that fights rather than fuels terrorism.
‘We must be brave enough to admit the “war on terror” is simply not working. We need a smarter way to reduce the threat from countries that nurture terrorists and generate terrorism.’ Labour Party candidates reacted with fury last night to Mr Corbyn’s planned intervention.
One said: ‘What does he want to do? Hug a terrorist?
‘The world is a dangerous place. The idea you can hide under the duvet and these threats go away is worse than naive.’
Mr Corbyn, who is a member of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, threw Labour’s defence policy into chaos earlier this month after he refused to commit to sending British troops to defend a Nato ally.
The party leader also declined to declare that he supported the UK’s liberation of the Falklands and suggested he would hold a review into the nuclear deterrent within weeks of moving into No 10. Last weekend, Mr Corbyn was accused of ‘siding with Britain’s enemies’ after repeatedly refusing to condemn the IRA in a TV interview.
His speech today comes after political parties agreed to postpone national campaigning for three days in the wake of the bombing at Manchester Arena on Monday night.
Mr Corbyn will also take part in an interview with Andrew Neil tonight on BBC1 at 7pm.
Theresa May, who attended the opening of the new Nato headquarters in Brussels yesterday, will fly to Sicily later for a meeting of the G7.
Brexit Secretary David Davis will this morning restart the Tory national campaign with a speech on the country’s exit from the EU.
‘The war on terror is not working’