The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
May and Corbyn put on the spot
PM under fire over cuts, while Labour leader defends stance on security
Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn were forced to defend their records as they faced a live TV grilling.
The Prime Minister came under fire from members of the studio audience over her cuts to public services and her plans for social care.
Mr Corbyn faced questioning on his attitude to security issues, and past comments regarding the IRA and the Falklands War.
Appearing on a Sky News/Channel 4 Battle for Number 10 broadcast, the Labour leader refused to be drawn on whether he would authorise a drone strike against a terrorist plotting overseas to attack the UK.
Mr Corbyn, a lifelong opponent of nuclear weapons who has made clear that he would never authorise their use, nevertheless indicated he would issue the customary final instructions to the commanders of the Trident submarine fleet if he became prime minister.
Challenged by a man who said he liked the Labour manifesto but did not see Mr Corbyn as “someone who could run this country”, the Labour leader said he saw himself as a listening politician
During her grilling from the studio audience, Mrs May was accused by a police officer of presiding over “devastating” cuts, asked by a midwife to justify her “chronic underfunding” of the NHS and heckled on school funding.
Mrs May reaffirmed that she would walk away from the forthcoming Brexit negotiations without a deal rather than accept a “bad” deal.
“I think you have to. In negotiations you have to recognise that you’re not in there to get a deal at any price,” she said.
Mrs May insisted she had given the police the resources they needed but acknowledged that numbers in England and Wales had fallen by around 20,000.
“What we had to do when we came into government in 2010 was to ensure that we were living within our means and that was very important because of the economic situation we had inherited,” she said.