Theresa May in Kelso, Scotland on June 5.
Ben Stransall/Getty
Prime Minister Theresa May has outlined her willingness to radically alter human rights laws in Britain in reaction to the terror attack on London last weekend. With less than 24 hours until polls open in the U.K. general election, May declared that she is prepared to make significant changes in an effort to impose new restrictions on terror suspects.
Among the PM's plans are efforts to ease the process of deporting foreign terror suspects and how to control extremists who may not have committed a crime but are believed to pose a threat.
The Guardian quotes May as saying, “I mean longer prison sentences for people convicted of terrorist offenses. I mean making it easier for the authorities to deport foreign terror suspects 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 present a threat, but not enough evidence to prosecute them in full in court. And if human rights laws stop us from doing it, we will change those laws so we can do it.”
This move comes after May faced criticism over Conservative cuts to policing in the U.K., and subsequent intelligence failures around three terror attacks in London and Manchester this year.
Amnesty U.K. has led the criticism of May's plans, calling them "reckless and misinformed" in a statement circulated on social media.
.@theresa_may’s comments are reckless and misinformed. pic.twitter.com/pP4K3MZOCl
— Amnesty UK (@AmnestyUK) June 6, 2017
Leader of the opposition Jeremy Corbyn, meanwhile, told BBC Breakfast that he was “alarmed” by the threat to human rights laws. "We won’t defeat terrorism by ripping up our basic rights and our democracy; we defeat terrorism by our communities, by our vigilance and by police action to isolate and detain those who could wish us harm."