MADAM,

Many within the Labour Party have been campaigning to elect a Labour government on 8th June. Voters frequently place the party leaders under scrutiny. The media pay particular attention to Jeremy Corbyn. It is important, therefore, for the sake of democracy, that his views are accurately reported.

In the light of the Manchester terrorist attack, Theresa May politicised the event by telling reporters at the G7 meeting that Jeremy Corbyn stated, ”the terror attacks in Britain are our own fault”. This is completely false and is not based on what he actually said.

In his interview with the BBC, Jeremy Corbyn stated that, ”protecting the country needs us to be strong on terrorism and strong on the causes of terrorism. The blame lies with the terrorists” He continues,” The attack in Manchester was shocking, appalling, indefensible, wrong in every possible way.” He continued to say, that the sight of the army on Britain’s streets after the Manchester attack was a clear sign that the UK’s foreign policy and approach to fighting terrorism was not working. Britain’s intervention in wars aboard had fuelled the risk of terrorism at home. This is completely different from saying the attacks were our fault and appears to be a sensible statement, in fact, supported by two former heads of M15 and also Boris Johnson in 2005!

Perhaps the narrowing of the gap between Labour and Conservatives in the opinion polls has led to Theresa May’s panic and false statement.

Jeremy Corbyn is not a ‘sound-bite’ politician, unlike others. Listen to what he actually says, not what the Conservatives say he has said, or what the Tory press say he has said.

Stuart Willcock

(Raglan)