May under microscope

Prime Minister Theresa May is seeking re-election as a tough leader to take Britain through Brexit, but her "strong and stable" image is under close scrutiny after a string of terror attacks and campaign missteps ahead of Thursday's vote.

May won praise in many quarters for her initial responses to the Manchester concert bombing and Saturday night's rampage in London, which left seven people dead.

But by focusing much of her Conservative party's campaign on her rival Jeremy Corbyn's security credentials, she has faced accusations of politicising the attacks.

Corbyn yesterday backed calls for Prime Minister Theresa May to resign for reducing the number of police officers during her six years as interior minister, reported AFP.

Asked by ITV television if he backed the calls for May to resign after three terror attacks in three months, the Labour Party leader said: "Indeed I would... We should never have cut the police numbers."

"There's been calls made by a lot of very responsible people on this who are very worried that she was at the Home Office for all this time, presided over these cuts in police numbers and is now saying that we have a problem -- yes, we do have a problem: we should never have cut the police numbers," he said.

Asked again if he wanted May to quit, Corbyn replied: "We've got an election on Thursday and that's perhaps the best opportunity to deal with it."

Meanwhile, the lead of May's Conservative Party over the opposition Labour Party has narrowed slightly to 11 percentage points before the June 8 election, according to an ICM poll published in the Guardian newspaper yesterday.

May's lead slipped from a lead of 12 percentage points in a previous ICM/Guardian poll published a week ago.

In the new poll, support for the Conservatives stood at 45 percent, unchanged from last week, and Labour was on 34 percent, up one point.