‘Theresa May will today urge world leaders to crack down on social media giants that refuse to co-operate on terror. The Prime Minister, who will say the fight against Islamic State is ‘moving from the battlefield to the internet’, is said to be infuriated by the feet-dragging of technology firms whose outlets host sick videos, provide a platform for hate preachers and allow the circulation of terror manuals. As it was revealed that MI5 was managing a staggering 500 active terror investigations, Mrs May will tell leaders at the G7 summit in Sicily today that this week’s atrocity in Manchester should mark an end to the softly-softly approach to policing the internet.’ – Daily Mail
Editorials
>Yesterday: WATCH: May to confront Americans over Manchester leaks
‘Home Secretary Amber Rudd has denied that cuts in police numbers contributed to Monday’s terror atrocity in Manchester. Ms Rudd was confronted on BBC1’s Question Time by a member of the studio audience who said Theresa May had been warned by the Police Federation that cuts in frontline officers would undermine their ability to gather low-level intelligence about possible threats. She insisted that the majority of such intelligence came from community leaders operating within the Prevent counter-terrorism programme, rather than from police officers on the street. Meanwhile, Greater Manchester’s metro mayor Andy Burnham said that policing numbers should become an issue in the General Election campaign, once the initial response to the Manchester attack is completed.’ – Daily Telegraph
‘Jeremy Corbyn will on Friday link Britain’s involvement in military action abroad to terrorist attacks such as the Manchester suicide bomb. The Labour leader will point to “the connections between wars the Government has supported or fought in other countries and terrorism here at home”. The comments, to be made in a speech in central London just four days after the bombing, risk accusations of insensitivity against Mr Corbyn. He is also likely to be accused of politicising the attack by raising it immediately as general election campaigning restarts on Friday morning.’ – Daily Telegraph
>Today: ToryDiary: Corbyn, terror’s useful idiot
>Yesterday:
‘Suicide bomber Salman Abedi built his deadly device with the backing of ISIS warlords in this £75-a-night city centre flat. Police fear he made enough explosive for two more bombs — as MI5 warned 3,000 of his fellow jihadis were currently involved in 500 active plots in Britain…On raiding the plush rental flat, cops discovered a huge stock of chemicals and bomb-making components. The quantities have led to fears at least two other bombs similar to that used on Monday could have been built…The bombs are also like those used in the recent attacks in Brussels and Paris. It came as it emerged that suicide bomber Abedi, 22, grew up on the same estate as notorious IS recruiter Raphael Hostey. Information in a cache of IS documents uncovered by Sky News show the two had known links, with security services saying they had a “significant” connection.’ – The Sun
‘Theresa May’s poll lead has fallen to five points a fortnight before the general election — the smallest margin over Labour since she came to power. A YouGov poll for The Times puts Labour on 38 per cent of the vote, up three points since the end of last week and the party’s best performance since Jeremy Corbyn became leader in September 2015. The Conservatives are down one point to 43 per cent, the Liberal Democrats up one point to 10 per cent and Ukip up one to 4 per cent. If the swing is replicated in every constituency Mrs May would lose seats and the Conservatives would have an overall majority of two, down from 17.’ – The Times (£)
>Today: Douglas Carswell’s column: The pundits know nothing
‘When knee-jerk proposals are announced in manifestos, you should worry about politicians’ understanding of the economic levers of power. Mrs May has already come unstuck in her attempt to extract some of the wealth of older families through the lottery of their social care needs. Labour’s priorities for increased public spending — abolishing student fees and nationalising utilities — shows little grasp of the needs of the disadvantaged nor a strategic understanding of the public finance priorities of the next decade. Anecdote was always a proper and powerful political device for humanising evidence in economic policy formation. Economists forget this at their peril, but it is not a substitute for the evidence itself. When unexpectedly buttonholed at the weekend by an education researcher over her plans to expand grammar schools, Mrs May ended the conversation with a brusque: “You can have all the evidence in the world, but headteachers have told me grammar schools are good for disadvantaged pupils.”’ – Chris Giles, FT
>Yesterday: ToryDiary: Is May a Thatcherite? What’s your view of the Tory campaign so far? And of the manifesto? Please take our monthly survey.
‘Net migration has fallen to 248,000 a year in the wake of the Brexit vote – but is still more than double Theresa May’s target of the tens of thousands. The difference between inflows and outflows to the UK in 2016 was down from 273,000 in the 12 months to September. Long-term immigration was estimated to be 588,000 and emigration 339,000. Underlining the impact of the EU referendum result, net numbers coming from EU dropped sharply to 133,00, offsetting a slight rise in the figure from the rest of the world to 175,000. The latest figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) are likely to refocus attention on the key election issue.’ – Daily Mail
>Today:
‘Senior Treasury officials are fearful that Mrs May is planning an assault on their powers after months of tension between Philip Hammond, the chancellor, and the prime minister’s team. There has even been speculation that Mrs May wants to break up what has traditionally been a rival power base in Whitehall, an idea entertained by previous ministers. Such a move, as the UK enters the critical phase of negotiating Brexit, would be extremely risky and a Conservative spokesman described the rumours as “total nonsense”. Despite the denials, Treasury officials fear Mrs May could create a new department to monitor public spending and drive efficiency, breaking the power of the finance ministry over huge swaths of government.’ – FT
‘Ukip would ban the wearing of balaclavas in public, its deputy leader has said. Peter Whittle said people should be prosecuted if they were found wearing the garments as he set out the party’s manifesto pledge to prohibit face coverings, including the niqab and burqa. He made the assertion in an interview with BBC Radio 4’s PM programme on Thursday, during which he also insisted that the Ukip manifesto, which promises to “reduce the density of alcohol outlets”, was not proposing to shut down pubs. Whittle insisted that the face covering policy was not aimed solely at Muslims, despite the manifesto mentioning only the Islamic dress.’ – The Guardian
>Yesterday: WATCH: Nuttall launches UKIP manifesto
‘President Trump berated his Nato allies for freeloading at the expense of the United States yesterday and used the Manchester bombing to urge the alliance to fight terrorism and mass migration. The US president made a point of identifying Russia as a threat, a comment that will be welcomed by Britain after concerns about his administration’s ties with the Kremlin. He failed, however, to deliver a public pledge to uphold Article 5, Nato’s founding principle that an attack on one is an attack on all. Instead Mr Trump made a passing reference to the “commitments that bind us together as one” in a speech outside Nato’s new headquarters on the edge of Brussels.’ – The Times (£)
>Yesterday: Ben Roback’s column: Trump’s Saudi speech on extremism – another win for globalists over nationalists