Jeremy Corbyn: UK foreign policy increases risk of terror attacks

Jeremy Corbyn will argue that "the war on terror is not working" and suggest that UK foreign policy increases the threat of attacks at home in a speech today.

Returning to election campaigning after the Manchester Arena attack on Monday, in which 22 people died, the Labour leader will also call for an overhaul of British action abroad.

"Many experts, including professionals in our intelligence and security services, have pointed to the connections between wars our government has supported or fought in other countries and terrorism here at home," he will tell an audience in London, according to a script released to journalists.

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"That assessment in no way reduces the guilt of those who attack our children - those terrorists will forever be reviled and held to account for their actions - but an informed understanding of the causes of terrorism is an essential part of an effective response that will protect the security of our people that fights rather than fuels terrorism."

Corbyn is "likely to be accused of politicising the attack by raising it immediately", says the Daily Telegraph. His comments have already provoked disagreement among senior Labour figures.

His comments have already provoked disagreement among senior Labour figures, with former home secretary Charles Clarke telling the BBC that terrorists' "motive force is about the destruction of all the core elements of our society and that's not something that's about a foreign policy conflict, something in Syria, something in Iraq, whatever it might be. It's about a totally opposed vision of what society should be."

The Guardian predicts "the Conservatives are likely to seize on the intervention as evidence that Labour would be soft on terrorism."

Corbyn, a former chairman of the Stop the War campaign, has consistently opposed military action. He "recently said that Britain had not fought a just conflict since 1945", reports the Telegraph.