Theresa May ‘should resign’ over terror attacks, says former Tory aide

Theresa May - PA

The Prime Minister should resign for failing to prevent the terror attacks in Manchester and London Bridge, a former senior aide to her predecessor David Cameron has said.

Steve Hilton, who was director of strategy for Cameron when he was in Downing Street, was responding to a newspaper report which suggested at least one of the attackers on Saturday was known to services.

The Daily Mail said security services had been warned about at least one of the terrorists who drive a van into pedestrians on London Bridge before launching a knife attack in Borough Market.

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Four police officers were among those injured in the attack, two of them seriously.

“Theresa May responsible for security failures of London Bridge, Manchester, Westminster Bridge,” tweeted Hilton. “[She] should be resigning not seeking re-election.”

He later added: “Theresa May [is] blame-shifting again. Her spin doctors attack MI5, but she was in charge of them for years..."

The Metropolitan Police have said the names of the attackers will be released "as soon as operationally possible" while investigations into a wider network continue.

Yesterday Theresa May signalled tougher counter-terrorism laws and said “enough is enough” when it comes to tolerance.

“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," she said.

But Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said cuts to community policing while Theresa May was Home Secretary had been a factor.

“You cannot protect the public on the cheap. The police and security services must get the resources they need, not 20,000 police cuts,” he said.

He also called on May to release a supressed Home Office report into international funding of terror groups in the UK.

It is thought it may reveal links between Saudi Arabia and extremist groups in the UK.

“It is no good Theresa May suppressing a report into the foreign funding of extremist groups,” said Corbyn.

“We have to get serious about cutting off the funding to these terror networks, including Isis, here and in the Middle East.”