Theresa May: London Bridge attack shows 'we are too tolerant of extremism'
After the van and knife attack in London, the Prime Minister says "enough is enough" and it is time to take on the terrorists.
Monday 5 June 2017 04:48, UK
Theresa May has said there is far too much tolerance of extremism in the UK and it is time to be more robust in tackling it.
Speaking in Downing Street following the , the Prime Minister said it was time to say "enough is enough".
Warning that the UK was facing a "new trend of terrorism" she described a copycat situation where "terrorism breeds terrorism and perpetrators are inspired to attack ... .by copying one another and often using crudest means of attack".
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Mrs May said this was the third terror attack on UK soil in three months and during that time, the intelligence services had disrupted five further plots.
An in March left five people dead, and a at the end of an Ariana Grande concert two weeks ago killed 22.
In response to the wave of attacks, she listed four key points that needed to change in order to tackle the threat of extremism.
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Firstly, she said we need to deflect the "evil ideology that is a perversion of Islam" and reinforced the need to defend our superior "pluralistic British values".
Secondly, she said we need to shut down the "safe space" the internet is providing to terrorists, calling for international action to regulate cyberspace.
In response, director of policy at Facebook Simon Milner said: "We want Facebook to be a hostile environment for terrorists".
He said the company "works aggressively to remove terrorist content" and that law enforcement are alerted "if we become aware of an emergency involving imminent harm to someone's safety".
The Prime Minister's third aim was for the county to have the "difficult and embarrassing conversations" needed to "stamp out extremism across the public sector and across society".
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Appealing to the country to "come together" to tackle extremism she said "we need to live our lives not in a series of segregated, separated communities, but as one truly United Kingdom."
Her fourth point was to review the country's counter-terrorism strategy in the light of the changing threat.
She also said increased custodial sentences would be brought in for terrorism-related offences if necessary.
While she noted that General Election campaigning was suspended on Sunday as a mark of respect, she said violence should not be allowed to "disrupt the democratic process" and canvassing would resume on Monday.