Corbyn steps up jibes against May

JEREMY Corbyn significantly stepped up personal attacks on Theresa May and his discussion of defence and security issues on social media as polling day drew near, a Press Association analysis has found.

The security policies and record of the main parties and their leaders have come under intense scrutiny in the wake of terror attacks in London and Manchester.

But while these issues were widely debated in the press and broadcast media, Labour more regularly used Twitter and Facebook to take the fight to the Tories than vice versa, according to the analysis.

Labour and Jeremy Corbyn both increased their share of posts on the topic of security, defence and policing (9%, up from 6%), while for the Conservatives and Theresa May this topic made up a smaller share (11%, down from 16%) of posts than on the previous week.

Leaders’ most popular posts The issue of security also seemed to resonate with audiences: Mr Corbyn’s most popular post on Facebook, the platform on which he passed one million “likes” this week, reiterated his accusation that the Conservatives’ cuts had weakened national security.

“Theresa May, you cannot protect communities on the cheap and by disregarding the views of the police,” he wrote, two days after the London Bridge attack, in a post alongside a video attacking the Conservatives’ record that was shared more than 40,000 times.

Mrs May’s most popular post, by comparison, was a transcript of her statement to the press after chairing a meeting of Cobra on Sunday morning. It was shared just over 8,000 times.

A tweet posted on Tuesday about Mrs May’s willingness to amend human rights laws to combat terrorism was her most popular tweet of the week, with around 12,000 likes and nearly 8,000 retweets.

“I’m clear: if human rights laws get in the way of tackling extremism and terrorism, we will change those laws to keep British people safe,” she wrote.

Mr Corbyn’s most popular tweet, with 58,000 likes and more than 23,000 retweets, took aim at Donald Trump, who had previously criticised London Mayor Sadiq Khan.

He wrote: “Sadiq Khan has spoken for London and our country in standing up to hate.”