Theresa May has vowed to restrict the freedom of movement of terror suspects, as she tried to allay criticism of her handling of the security threat ahead of a final push for votes in Thursday's
general election.
May embarked on an eleventh-hour tour of closely fought Labour-held constituencies amid Conservative confidence that she is heading for a solid election victory in spite of a struggling campaign. The prime minister has been stung by criticism of police cuts made on her watch as home secretary, and has announced that the security services will review why they failed to stop Saturday's terrorist attack at London Bridge.
May promised greater restrictions on the movement of terror suspects against whom there is not enough evidence to launch prosecutions.
That could involve a more comprehensive version of the terrorism prevention and investigation measures (TPims) introduced in 2012. "If our human rights laws stop us from doing it, we'll change the laws so we can do it," she said. The Conservative manifesto commits to keeping the Human Rights Act at least until Brexit, and to keeping the UK in the European Convention on Human Rights for the duration of the next parliament.
May has previously said that Britain could derogate — or temporarily not enforce — aspects of the ECHR during wartime to prevent legal action against its troops. May's nationwide tour will be the culmination of a lacklustre campaign that has twice been interrupted by terrorist attacks. Tory strategists believe they are still on course for victory by beating Labour in its working class, Brexit-voting heartlands.
The poll from Survation has the Tory lead at just one point over Labour, while ComRes has it standing at 12 points, as Jeremy Corbyn appeared on the BBC's Leaders Debate while Theresa May boycotted it.
The campaign has been marked by two terror attacks at London Bridge and Manchester, but neither even seems to have had an impact on the polling. The gap between the two major parties
has continued to narrow in our poll tracker, however there is still a healthy deficit still left to overcome. According to the latest forecast by the University of East Anglia's Chris Hanretty, the Conservatives would still gain a strong majority in Parliament.
Thanks to seat gains in the North of England and Scotland, Theresa May would benefit from a swing of 45 seats and end up with 375 MPs in Parliament.
At the start of the campaign some polls had the Tories at almost double the vote share of the Labour Party, indicating that the most likely outcome would be a landslide victory that would increase Theresa May's current working majority of 17 in the House of Commons.
Majority of voters say UK foreign policy increases risk of terrorism
An overwhelming majority of people agree with Jeremy Corbyn that British involvement in foreign wars has put the public at greater risk of terrorism, according to a new poll.
The exclusive ORB survey for The Independent found 75 per cent of people believe interventions in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya have made atrocities on UK soil more likely. The poll – conducted before Saturday night's devastating attack – comes after Mr Corbyn was lambasted for suggesting foreign policy decisions were linked to terrorism in the UK and that the "war on terror" had failed.
The deadly strike at London Bridge and Borough Market, the third attack in Britain in as many months, has seen security dominate the final days of the election campaign, with cabinet ministers squabbling over whether it could have been stopped. Theresa May's record as Home Secretary has been questioned and she has faced a call to resign over the matter from Corbyn, not to mention a former aide to ex-Prime Minister David Cameron.