Theresa May says she will rip up human rights laws to fight terror

Theresa May has said she will rip up some human rights laws if they "stop us" from tackling terrorism.

Speaking on the election trail, the Prime Minister told supporters she would change any laws that got in the way of preventing jihadis from launching attacks in Britain.

Mrs May used one of her final speeches of the General Election campaign to step up her rhetoric against Islamist extremism in the wake of the London Bridge terror attack that left seven people dead and more than 40 injured.

She said: "As we see the threat changing, evolving becoming a more complex threat, we need to make sure that our police and security and intelligence agencies have the powers they need.

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"I mean longer prison sentences for people convicted of terrorist offences. I mean making it easier for the authorities to deport foreign terrorist suspects back to their own countries.

"And I mean doing more to restrict the freedom and the movements of terrorist suspects when we have enough evidence to know they are a threat, but not enough evidence to prosecute them in full in court.

"And if our human rights laws stop us from doing it, we will change the laws so we can do it.

"If I am elected as Prime Minister on Thursday, that work begins on Friday."

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Senior Conservative sources indicated they were ready to opt out of the recent provisions of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) if powers to stop suspects using mobile phones and computers or to impose curfews needed to be toughened up.

Mrs May has long made clear her desire to pull out of the ECHR, however, said she would not press forward because there was not an appetite for it.

The party's manifesto states that the UK will remain signed up to the ECHR and any move to pull out would be seen as a departure.

Labour's shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer called the move a "diversionary tactic". He said the suspects in the London terror attacks were not on the radar because risk assessments and resources were an issue.

He said the attackers were not in a position to strike because of the Human Rights Act and accused Mrs May of "throwing up" human rights to deflect from questions over her record as Home Secretary.

Speaking earlier to Sky's political editor Faisal Islam, Mrs May said police and the intelligence services need to launch a review after the three attackers slipped through the net to carry out the atrocity.

Security services have come under pressure after it emerged one of the attackers, Khuram Butt, had been reported to the anti-terror hotline in 2015, when Mrs May was home secretary.

But as well as the focus on what the authorities knew, the PM has come under fire over her record on security in the wake of the terror attack.

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Her decision to scrap control orders, which allowed terror suspects to be detained under house arrest, during her time in the Home Office has been questioned.

Mrs May has also been forced to defend her record on police cuts after officer numbers dropped by 20,000 when she was Home Secretary.

On Monday, Jeremy Corbyn appeared to back calls for Mrs May to resign over the cuts - before later seeming to row back.

Reacting to Mrs May's latest comments, the Labour leader said the PM's plans would not deter further attacks.

"We will always keep the law under review, but don't believe would-be terrorists and suicide bombers will be deterred by longer sentences or restricting our rights at home," he said.

"The right response to the recent attacks is to halt the Conservative cuts and invest in our police and security services and protect our democratic values, including the Human Rights Act."

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Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron accused Mrs May of launching a "nuclear arms race" on terror laws and claimed she was "simply posturing about being tough on terror".

Liberty director Martha Spurrier said: "If Theresa May does what she threatens, she will go down in history as the prime minister who handed terrorists their greatest victory.

"For cheap political points and headlines, she is willing to undermine our democracy, our freedom and our rights - the very things these violent murderers seek to attack."