May and Corbyn trade blows on last day of UK election campaign

Workers in protective equipment are reflected in the window of a betting shop displaying images of Britain's prime minister Theresa May and opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn in London on June 7, 2017. Marko Djurica / ReutersShow less

LONDON // Britain’s political leaders crisscrossed the country on the last day of the general election campaign on Wednesday, with security dominating the agenda in the wake of the London Bridge attack.

The main contenders are battling over who will keep Britain safer from an ever-morphing terrorist threat.

Conservative prime minister Theresa May has promised to crack down on extremism if she wins Thursday’s vote – even if that means watering down human rights legislation.

But her main opponent, Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, said the real danger comes from Conservative cuts to police budgets.

“We won’t defeat terrorists by ripping up our basic rights and our democracy,” Mr Corbyn said.

Mrs May began the day with an early morning visit to Smithfield meat market in London, where she was heckled by some butchers shouting “vote Labour”.

She called the snap election in a bid to boost the Conservative majority in parliament, which Mrs May says will strengthen Britain’s hand in divorce talks with the European Union.

“Get those negotiations wrong and the consequences will be dire,” she said.

Labour has had a better campaign than many expected, with opinion polls showing a narrowing of the gap between the party and the Conservatives. Mr Corbyn, who was widely written off at the start of the campaign, has drawn thousands of people to upbeat rallies and energised young voters with his plans to boost public spending after years of Conservative austerity.

Mr Corbyn planned to address six rallies in England, Scotland and Wales, ending in his north London constituency on Wednesday night.

He said Thursday’s vote offered a clear choice between “another five years of a Tory government, underfunding of services all across the UK ... or a Labour government that invests for all, all across Britain”.

Attacks in Manchester on May 22 and London on Saturday last week have put the threat from international terrorism at the centre of the campaign.

Mr Corbyn has criticised cuts to the police under the Conservatives, which saw the number of officers fall by almost 20,000 between 2010 and 2016.

The Conservatives, meanwhile, have increased their attacks on Mr Corbyn’s security record. He opposed British military interventions in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya, wants to scrap Britain’s nuclear arsenal and shared platforms with Irish republicans in the years when the IRA was setting off bombs in Britain.

It’s unclear whether Britain’s anxiety about terrorism will benefit Mrs May, as the incumbent prime minister, or whether criticism of her record in government will hit home.

“I was going to vote Labour and I’m still going to vote Labour,” said Tom Lewis, an insurance broker walking in Borough, the London neighbourhood hit in Saturday’s attack.

“I think that the idea of the Tories being strong on security is a bit of a red herring because they are unwilling to pay for more police. Fundamentally that’s what you need for security. Cutting human rights doesn’t necessarily increase security – it can very often decrease security.”

The latest opinion polls vary between a solid Conservative lead and a dead heat. The difference depends largely on the predicted size of turnout among young people, traditionally the least likely to vote.

* Associated Press