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# London Bridge
Theresa May: 'The attackers' identities are known and will be released'
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has called on Theresa May to resign as Prime Minister because of cuts in police numbers.
UK PRIME MINISTER Theresa May has said that all three of the attackers have been identified and their identities will be released later on.
She gave an update following Saturday’s terror attack. Here’s the latest:
- Attackers have been identified – one attacker used to live in Dublin
- Eleven people have been arrested following searches at two premises
- The UK’s national terror threat level remains at ‘severe’ – which means an attack is highly likely
- Additional security measures have been put in place
May said that the plans in place in the event of a terrorist attack “undoubtedly saved many lives”.
The heroism of officers both on and off duty was truly extraordinary.
“We thank them.”
In her statement yesterday, May said that security and intelligence agencies and police had disrupted five credible plots since the Westminster attack in March and that “defeating this ideology is one of the great challenges of our time”.
Police force
The string of attacks that have claimed 34 lives in less than three months has sparked a tough debate about Britain’s counter-terror strategy and is the main topic of conversation in the run up to the country’s election campaign.
Jeremy Corbyn has joined calls for Theresa May to resign in the wake of recent terror attacks.
The Labour leader said that May ‘presided over’ cuts to police staff when she was Home Secretary and said that ‘we do have a problem now because of the cut to police numbers’.
Government figures show the number of police officers has fallen from 146,030 officers in 2010 to 126,766 in 2016 – the number of armed officers has dropped from 6,976 to 5,639 in the same time.
David Cameron’s former aide Steve Hilton has also called for May to resign:
May, meanwhile, promised to longer jail terms for terrorism offences, even minor ones, and said internet companies should deny extremism a place in which to breed.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that resources would be allocated to combat terrorist content the social media platform.
Other proposals floated in the British press include electronically tagging or even interning jihadists on watch lists, requiring proof of ID for unregistered SIM cards for mobile phones, and police background checks for people who want to rent a car immediately.
Voting begins in the UK election this Thursday.
With reporting from AFP
