United and defiant

● 12 arrests after London terror attack kills seven and injures 48 ● Manchester concert held and election will go ahead ● Brendan Cox: ‘It will not change us, it will not defeat us’

Prime Minister Theresa May has urged Britain to “come together” and “defeat our enemies”, following the London terrorist attack which left seven people dead and 48 injured.

In a robust attack on the ideology of Islamist extremism, Mrs May warned “things have to change” following Saturday night’s atrocity, but vowed Thursday’s general election will go ahead as “violence can never be allowed to disrupt the democratic process”.

Some 12 people have been arrested following the attack, which saw three men in a rented white van hit pedestrians at speed on London Bridge, before exiting the vehicle and stabbing people in nearby Borough Market. One of the attackers reportedly shouted “this is for Allah” as he stabbed a man near a pub.

The three, wearing fake suicide bomb vests, were shot dead in an “unprecedented” hail of 50 bullets by police, just eight minutes after the first 999 call. A member of the public was injured when they were accidentally hit by a stray bullet.

Tales of heroism emerged in the aftermath, with one police officer taking on the trio armed only with his baton before being stabbed. Members of the public also threw chairs, glasses and bottles at the attackers in an attempt to stop them.

Five hospitals across the city last night continued to treat 36 of the injured, 21 of whom remain in a critical condition.

In the aftermath of the third terrorist attack on British soil in as many months, the Metropolitan Police increased armed patrols, although the UK terrorism threat level remained at “severe”.

In Scotland, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said the number of armed response vehicles on duty had been “substantially increased”, but emphasised there was “no intelligence of any specific threat” north of the Border.

Eyewitnesses described the attack on London as a “rampage”, with the three men stabbing, punching and kicking members of the public as they targeted busy pubs and restaurants.

In a stark assessment of the threat posed to Britain by Islamic extremism, Mrs May said yesterday that the country was facing a “new trend of terrorism” and promised action on multiple fronts.

Speaking outside 10 Downing Street after a Cobra emergency committee meeting with senior Cabinet colleagues and security chiefs, she said the Westminster, Manchester and London Bridge atrocities had seen a new form of copycat attack by individuals and small groups who are not necessarily linked in a network but are inspired by each other’s actions.

Mrs May also revealed that security and intelligence agencies and police had disrupted five credible plots since the Westminster attack in March.

She said: “Since the emergence of the threat from Islamist-inspired terrorism, our country has made significant progress in disrupting plots and protecting the public. But it is time to say ‘enough is enough’.

“Everybody needs to go about their lives as they normally would. Our society should continue to function in accordance with our values. But when it comes to taking on extremism and terrorism, things need to change.”

Mrs May said there would be a review of the UK’S counterterrorism strategy, alongside a focus on countering extremist propaganda; international regulatory agreements to prevent the spread of extremist ideologies online, and action to prevent the growth of segregated communities at home. She said the UK would work with other countries to prevent the internet being a “safe space” for terrorists.

However, in a speech later in Carlisle, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn accused the Prime Minister of denying resources to the police and security services, telling her: “You cannot protect the public on the cheap.”

Leaders of the Muslim Council of Britain said they would be intensifying efforts to curb Islamic extremism in Britain, which its secretary-general, Harun Rashid, described as a “death cult”.

Mr Rashid said that he agreed with Mrs May that “things must change,” adding: “Enough is enough. We are ready to have those difficult conversations, as equal citizens with an equal stake in this fight.”

None of the seven dead has been officially named. One was a Canadian national, according to the country’s prime minister Justin Trudeau, while French foreign minister Jean-yves Le Drian has said that a French national was among those killed.

Singer Ariana Grande, whose Manchester concert was hit by the suicide bombing which killed 22 people less than two weeks ago, expressed her support for those affected by the London Bridge attack. She tweeted simply: “Praying for London.”

Evening Standard editor and former chancellor George Osborne, said: “Emergency services once again heroic. London will stay strong.”

Brendan Cox, whose wife Jo Cox MP was murdered by a nationalist terrorist last summer, wrote: “Thinking of everyone caught up in yet more pointless horror. It will achieve nothing, it will not change us, it will not defeat us.”

Police carried out a series of armed raids in east London yesterday. Eight men and four women were arrested during a dawn raid at a block of flats in Barking. It is understood that the raid, which involved controlled explosions, was targeting the home of one of the dead attackers.

One neighbour said he had reported him to the anti-terrorist hotline after he began expressing increasingly radical views, but the man was never arrested.

“Everybody needs to go about their lives as normal. Society should continue to function in accordance with our values.”

THERESA MAY