Theresa May Election 2017

Have been out pounding the streets. Busy in this rain this morning to

make sure we get elected here in Newcastle in Stoke-on-Trent. Our

candidates. We have Owen Meredith from Newcastle. We have Dan from

stroke on Trent Central. We've got... INAUDIBLE

And Ben Adams from Stoke-on-Trent North. They are all excellent local

candidates and they all deserve your vote. The reason they deserve your

vote in two days' time is because we face the most important general

election of our lifetime. 11 days after polling day, we will start the

Brexit negotiations. If the concerns of terse -- Conservatives lose just

six seats, we will have hung parliament. That will leave Jeremy

Corbyn scrambling to make deals with the Lib Dems, giving up the things

that we hold dear on Brexit and our national economy. That is why on

Thursday we need you all to vote Conservative because there is no

safe place that you can vote Labour. If you don't, the person doing their

bit in the national interest is our Prime Minister, I give you Theresa

May. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thanks, Karen. Thank you very much

for that wonderful Stoke on Trent and North Staffordshire welcome.

It's great to be with you here today. As Karen said, as we come to

the closing stages of what is a critical general election for our

country. Because the question that people will face on Thursday is

about the sort of country we want to be in the future. It's about who has

the leadership to take is through those Brexit negotiations and build

a stronger future for our country. I believe absolutely passionately that

we can build a Britain that is stronger, fairer, and more

prosperous than it is today. The opportunities before us are

enormous. The promise of Brexit is great. But we do have to make sure

that we get those Brexit negotiations right and we get the

best deal for Britain in Europe. If we work together, I believe we can

build that stronger, more prosperous and fairer country. I want to see a

country where it doesn't matter where you came from, it doesn't

matter who your parents were, how far you go depends on your talents

and your willingness to work hard. I want to see a country where no one

and no community is left behind. I want to see a country that is truly

global and outward looking. That is doing those trade deals around the

world, that is forging new partnerships and strengthening our

partnerships with the old allies alike. A country that is confident

in itself. And I believe that together we can do great things.

Together we can reignite the British spirit and take this country to a

stronger future for everybody. And as we come in these closing

stages, I know you have all been working hard, it's not one to Dover

Baddeley go. We need that last push out on the doorsteps taking this

message to people and reminding people of the crucial questions at

the heart of this campaign. Who do they trust? Who did they trust to

ensure we get that best Brexit deal in Europe? And do they trust to have

the strong and stable leadership to do that. Brexit is the basis of

everything else. Who has the will? And also who has the planned to

deliver for Britain on Brexit? As Karen says, those Brexit

negotiations started 11 days after polling day. That's in less than a

fortnight's time. We have to be ready. We have to have the plan and

we have it. Who do they trust? To maintain our economic security.

ordinary working families wouldn't ordinary working families wouldn't

have their tax increased at all. Apart from the fact that he has

wrecked the economy which would mean people pay the price what we see

today in the fine print of his manifesto is that he would take away

the marriage allowance and that would hit up to 4 million ordinary

working families with a tax rise. Who do you trust to maintain your

national security? Somebody who doesn't... Has boasted that he has

opposed every piece of anti-terrorism legislation since he

came into Parliament. Or me and the Conservatives, as Home Secretary I

put through strengthened anti-terrorism. And there is that

simple fact, as Karen pointed out, that if we lose just six seats, then

the government loses its majority. the government loses its majority.

If we lose just six seats, we could see Jeremy Corbyn in number ten

Downing St. Diane Abbott looking after our national security. John

McDonnell at the Treasury with our economy. And the strings being

pulled by Nicola Sturgeon. Every vote for Conservative candidates is

a vote to stop that from happening. Every vote for me and the

Conservatives is a vote to strengthen my hand in those Brexit

negotiations. Every vote for me and local Conservative candidates is a

our country because there is no safe our country because there is no safe

vote for Labour or the Lib Dems. A vote for any other party could mean

that Jeremy Corbyn is in number ten. And I say this very simply to

people. It isn't about who you voted for in the past. It's about who you

trust to take this country forward into the future. To those Brexit

negotiations and beyond. The negotiations and beyond. The

decision people make on Thursday will shape the future of this

country for generations to come. And my message to people is very simple.

It is only the British public that can give me the mandate. Give me

your backing to lead Britain. Give me your authority to speak for

Britain. Strengthen my hand as I fight for Britain. Give me your

backing and I will deliver for Britain. APPLAUSE

Thank you. Thank you. Right. Do we have Ross? From the BBC. Is there a

Mike? It's coming to you. Ross Hawkins, the today programme. What

do you say to the activists who have had to sell your message as your

campaign has faltered over social care and your opponent has looked

more confident as the weeks have gone on. There is only one poll that

counts and that is the one that will be taken on Thursday. Secondly, all

these activists have been out knocking on doorsteps taking out

that message that it is about the future of our country. What this

country needs is strong and stable leadership. A strong and stable

government to get Brexit negotiations right and get the best

deal and take is forward. We have the opportunity to change this

country for the future. To truly make it a country that works for

everyone and not just the privileged few. That is the message we are

taking out on the doorsteps and that is the choice people have on

Thursday. Chris. We learn today that the third terrorist tried to get

into Syria and then got back into the UK. Will you apologise for the

failure to keep people safe? What we have done in relation to national

security and dealing with this terrible terrorist threat that we

face is we have ensured that police and security services have the

powers that we need to be able to deal with this. We have had three

terrible, horrific attacks in the last three months in the United

Kingdom. These are attacks on our way of life. The British people have

shown there resilience and defiance in the face of the terrorists. We

will not allow our way of life to be damaged by the terrorists and we

will carry on as business as usual. What matters for the future is

making sure that we have in place a government that is willing to

support our police when they do what they need to do. I support shoot to

kill. Eight minutes and our police officers have taken those terrorists

out. Jeremy Corbyn doesn't. As I say, we will, with the police and

security services look to ensure that they have the laws they need.

He has opposed every these of anti-terrorism justly since he came

into Parliament. Beth. Your former party chairman and the first Muslim

woman in Cabinet Baroness Warsi said last night that Donald Trump's state

visit should be kicked into the long grass in response to his response to

the attacks on London. Many Londoners share that view. You? The

special relationship we have with the United States of America is the

deepest and strongest defence and security relationship for our

country. I think Donald Trump was wrong in the things he said about

Sadiq Khan. In the aftermath of the attack we have been working with

Sadiq Khan. Party politics are put to one side. We work together to

make sure that the response of London is right. Yes. Sorry, Andy.

re-elected, will you demand that re-elected, will you demand that

security services look again at the way they try and sift out who are

the really dangerous suspects and do you bear some responsibility is if

there have been failings, after all, you were Home Secretary for six

years before becoming Prime Minister? MI5 and the police have

said following the Manchester attack that they will be looking at their

processes and how they deal with these cases. I would expect them to

do exactly the same following the London Bridge attack. It's currently

an ongoing investigation and we need to let them have the time and the

space to get on with that investigation. What matters in the

future is we ensure they do have the laws they need. It is what I was

doing as Home Secretary and it is what we will continue to do if

re-elected into government after the election on Thursday. Prime

Minister, it is a media. Politics home. You have run a very negative

campaign against Jeremy Corbyn. With much less time focusing on the

positives of Conservative government. You say you are an

honest person but how guilty does it make you feel and in a more positive

spirit can you tell is one thing you like and respect about the Labour

leader? LAUGHTER Lock. We are in a general election.

It is right that we set out the choice to people. You have just

heard the speech I've given. An optimistic future under a

Conservative government. Resolutely determined to get a good deal from

Brexit for this United Kingdom. Wanting to go out there with new

trading relationships throughout the world. It means higher paid jobs

here in the United Kingdom. Let me tell you one story. I did a speech a

few days ago, in that speech I set out one of the policies I think will

be really important for young people in this country which is a really

proper technical education for young people in this country for the first

time. Somebody from the press stood up and said, why aren't you talking

about policy? I have been talking about policy. There is a choice for

people at the election. It is a choice about who they trust to take

this country forward through those Brexit negotiations but beyond

interlaced wrong Britain in the future. What do you like about

Jeremy Corbyn? There were two questions. Yes, normally we normally

only allow one question. John Stevens, Daily Mail. Should voters

be concerned for their safety when they go to polling stations on

Thursday? Just to set the scene for you. The national threat level is at

severe. It has been a severe for some time. The police have been

planning ensuring people's safety on that basis. People should go out

there to vote. I want to see people going out to vote. I think that is a

very important message that our democracy will not be deterred by

the terrorists. Now, can I just checked. Have we got the Stoke

Sentinel here. In 2010, Staffordshire Police had police

officer numbers reduce. Has that cut their ability to gather intelligence

in the community? Let's look at what we've done in counterterrorism

terms. We've protected counterterrorism police budgets.

With ensured that funding is available for an uplift in armed

police. We've given the police new powers to deal with the terrorists.

If you look at policing in the wider sense. The way we police is

changing. We've got a first-class police and crime commission hearing

Staffordshire in Matthew Ellis and a pity. -- and deputy.

Pervades them to have another go. Have another referendum. This time,

come up with the answer that the EU wants. We ensured the police have

the powers they need. We also need to support the police when they do

the job they need to do on the streets of our country. I support

them in their shoot-to-kill. That's important. We saw how important that

was on Saturday night. Jeremy Corbyn does not. Right. Tom. Tom, from The

Sun. We've seen again with the London Bridge attacks the internet,

YouTube etc has been involved in radicalisation. You've asked

internet companies to do something about it. Gone to Brussels to ask

your international colleagues to do something about this. Nothing is

happening. Is now the time to talk about hefty fines on internet

companies like the Germans do? We are very clear, I did go and ask

other world leaders to work with us on this and putting pressure on the

companies to do more. I think the companies should accept their

responsibility in relation to what's being put across their platforms. We

see hateful ideology being spewed across their platforms by

extremists. That can lead to terrorism. We don't want a safe

space online for terrorists to plan they're tax. We'll continue to put

pressure on others about that. We need to look at the regulation of

cyberspace. We need to ensure there is no safe space for the terrorists

online. Huffing tonne post. In your Article 50 letter, saw failure to

achieve a deal on Brexit would weaken the co-operation and fight

for crime on terrorism. Do you still stand by that? If so, would you take

that aspect off the table of the Brexit negotiations? I've said no

deal is better than a bad deal. I think a bad deal would be where some

people in Europe talk about punishing us. There are parties here

in the UK who are clear they will take a deal at any price. So they'd

get the worse deal at the highest price. That's not good for the UK.

We need to ensure we continue that co-operation with our European

partners is a whole variety of areas in dealing with serious and

organised crime in co-operation to terrorism. That will be part of the

negotiations. I came back with the result the UK wanted. Ben. Thank

you, Daily Mirror. How concerned are you about apparent intelligence

failings in the run up to the London Bridge attack? This is still an

ongoing investigation. We need to let the police and security service

have the ability, time and space to continue that investigation. But, I

would expect, as they have said after the Manchester attack, they

will look at their processes. What we need to do and what Government

needs to do from Friday onwards is to be looking at how this terror

threat is evolving. The way terrorism is breeding terrorism. The

increased tempo of attack of the we've had three horrific attacks in

the UK in the last three months. At the same time the police and

security services have foiled five other attacks. The tempo is there in

a way we haven't seen before. We need to say, how do we need to adapt

in order to deal with that evolving threat as we see it changing.

Gentleman, I don't know your name. William James from Reuters. Prime

Minister, if elected will you bring forward the extremist bill and will

it have pow tors close moss? I published as you know a counter

extremism strategy. We've taken forward a number of the elements in

that. When I gave my statement earlier this week, it is very

important we call out extremism in this country. I've been saying this

but generally, I think, we've been overall too tolerant of extremism. I

want communities to have the confidence of being able to come

forward, to speak about extremism, but also know how to dole with it.

We'll set up -- to deal with it. We will work with the public sector,

private sector, with community groups to ensure that they are able,

not just to identify extremism but able to deal with that. To come

forward so we strengthen our bonds as a society. We deal with these

extremists and call it out properly. Sam? Press Association. Prime

Minister, you recently visited Saudi Arabia. Did you raise directly the

issue of terror funding coming from the kingdom? We talked to Saudi

Arabia about a whole number of issues around the question of

terrorism. Saudi Arabia is a country itself which has experienced

terrorist attacks and many lives have been lost as a result of that.

We have an important link with Saudi Arabia because, action taken by

Saudi Arabia has saved lives here in this country. But, we, as a

Government, have ensured we have strengthened our ability to deal

with terrorist finance through the changes we've put through in the

criminal finances act. In dealing with the terrorists, you do need to

look at every aspect of that. We've talked about the internet earlier in

answer to a question. Also, the question of financing and we do.

Yes. Rowena. The Guardian. The third named London Bridge attacker was

stopped in Italy in March 2016. What action did the Home Office take on

his return when he was suspected of trying to travel to Syria? And was

his passport taken away from him or a temporary exclusion order imposed

and if not, why not? First of all, I said it is an ongoing investigation.

You would not expect me to comment on the details. The decisions about

temporary exclusion orders, the temporary removal of the passport

are powers exercised by the police in consultation with the security

service. As I say, this an ongoing investigation and we should leave

people to do the job they need to do in terms of the investigation. The

Times. Prime Minister, one of the London Bridge attackers appeared in

a Channel 4 Dommentry broadcast last year. Did you watch it? I didn't see

it. I'm aware of it. It comes back to the point I made earlier, the

point I made at the weekend. We need to ensure we're properly calling out

extremism in this country. We identify the extremists they want to

destroy our way of life. Propagate hateful ideology to divide our

society. I want to see us coming together as one UK to raise our

voices against the extremists saying there is no place for extremism in

our country. APPLAUSE BuzzFeed. Was Boris Johnson right to say MI5 had

questions to answer? Boris Johnson made the point that I've answered in

a sense, by making the point MI5 and the police, I would expect them to

look into how they've handled this case once they've done the necessary

work they need to be focusing on now which is investigating this. As the

terror threat evolves, we need to look and see how we adapt to deal

with that. After appalling tragedies have taken place we look at what has

happened and what lessons need to be learned. Emily. ITV news. Prime

Minister, Sadiq Khan says London's police are in the middle of a

billion pounds worth of cuts. How is that making anyone safer? If I may,

we're less than 48 hours from polling day, are you nervous? Look,

we have, the whole country has an important decision to take on

Thursday. I'm out and about today and tomorrow campaigning around the

country as people here will be Out And About Campaigning around the

country for what we believe is the right result in terms of taking this

country forward for the future. You can't be a politician without

enjoying election campaigns. I'm going to be out there enjoying it

over the next 48 hours. Ensuring that we do bring that choice to

people's attention. Remind them of the choice they have. On Friday,

there's only going to be one of two people who's Prime Minister, either

me or Jeremy Corbyn. A second question... Look, Cressida Dick said

the Metropolitan Police are well resourced and have powerful

counter-terrorism capabilities. We need to look at whether as the

threat evolves, we need to introduce new laws for our police and security

services in terms of them doing the job as the threat evolves. But

that's my Government who will be committed to doing that. Second

question from the BBC. I know you can't comment on an ongoing

investigation, everybody would understand that. We know now the

authorities were alerted about all three of the attackers. Do you fear,

as many members of the public might do, that there were intelligence

failures in this case or do we have to accept in 2017 no matter how hard

we try, some terrorists may slip through? That's what the Home

Secretary suggested this morning. It is impossible to stop every single

one. As I've said, the police and security service have done a good

job in foiling a number of plots, five in the last three months. A

significant number since in the last few years as well. What I think is

important, though, you said yourself, you recognise Laura, we

can't comment on the ongoing investigation. We need to ensure MI5

and the police are able to get on with that investigation as they need

to do now. Then, we will look at how this processes were followed, what

they did. They will be wanting to look at that. They will want to

learn lessons for the future if there are lessons to be learnt.

Thank you very much everybody. Thank you. APPLAUSE