London Bridge attack: woman killed was former Cambridge student – live news | Politics

The campaigner and businesswoman Gina Miller has called on Remain voters to vote tactically in the general election, saying that doing so could prevent a Conservative majority.

Presenting a new poll and MRP seat projection for ‘Remain United’ on ‘Sophy Ridge on Sunday’, she said: “With no tactical voting, just based on voter intention at the moment and where the polls are sitting and the difference between the seats, there would be a 12 seat majority for the Conservatives.”

“What we’re doing is we’re giving people recommendations and the other polling we did was on tactical voting intentions and what we’re finding is that it is staying stable for about 45% of Remain and soft Leave voters saying that they intend to tactically vote.”

A woman who was one of the two people killed in the London Bridge attack was a former student, Cambridge University has said.

The university has released a statement after Jack Merritt, a course coordinator for Learning Together, a programme run by the University of Cambridge’s institute of criminology, was named as the first victim in the London Bridge attack.

In a statement on Sunday, Professor Stephen J Toope, vice-chancellor of the university, said: “I am devastated to learn that among the victims of the London Bridge attack were staff and alumni of the University of Cambridge, taking part in an event to mark five years of the Learning Together programme.

“What should have been a joyous opportunity to celebrate the achievements of this unique and socially transformative programme, hosted by our Institute of Criminology, was instead disrupted by an unspeakable criminal act.

“I am sad beyond words to report that a course co-ordinator, Jack Merritt, was killed, as was a former student not yet named by the Metropolitan Police. Among the three people injured, whose identities have not been publicly released, is a member of university staff.
“Our university condemns this abhorrent and senseless act of terror. Our condolences, our thoughts and our deepest sympathies are with the victims and their families.”

The Tories have been seeking to use comments by Jeremy Corbyn in his Sky News earlier in which he said – in answer to questioning – that convicted terrorists shoudl “not necessarily” serve a full sentence.

The Conservative digital operation have produced an infographic which is being tweeted by Tory ministers and other senior figures.

Such is the way of modern political campaigning. For what it’s worth, here’s the context of the “not necessarily” quote:

Sophy Ridge: Of course his [London Bridge attacker Usman Khan] original sentence was 16 years, do you think that people convicted of terrorism offences need to serve a full prison sentence?

Corbyn: I think it depends on the circumstances, it depends on the sentence but crucially depends on what they’ve done in prison …

Ridge: So not necessarily then?

Corbyn: No, not necessarily, no. I think there has to be an examination of how our prison services work and crucially what happens to them on release from prison..

The line-up is emerging for tonight’s seven way debate on ITV:

• Richard Burgon for Labour
• Rishi Sunak for the Conservatives
• Nicola Sturgeon for the SNP
• Nigel Farage for the Brexit Party
• Adam Price for Plaid
• Sian Berry for the Greens

While Raab’s seat is at risk, the Mail on Sunday reports that the Tories have been wargaming the possibility of the party winning the election but Johnson losing his seat, where his majority of 5,000 is the target of a sustained Momentum-fuelled labour challenge.

The Mail’s Harry Cole writes: “I understand the plan would see a Conservative MP with a big majority near London asked to step up to the Lords on a promise of high office, with a by-election being triggered within days of the December 12 vote,”

“Meanwhile First Secretary of State Dominic Raab would represent Mr Johnson and No 10 in the Commons.”

But what happens if Raab is gone as well?

Here’s what the Guardian’s Caroline Davies found when she recently visited Uxbridge to talk about the attempt to remove Johnson.

This was overlooked a little bit earlier but Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab has insisted that he is “not really” worried about losing his seat in the General Election.

Raab, who is MP for Esher and Walton in Surrey, acknowledged on Sky News that “with a seat like mine you never take anything for granted”.

His comments came as a poll reported by The Observer suggests Mr Raab is at risk of losing his seat in a tactical voting switch.

Raab enjoys a healthy majority of 23,298, but a Deltapoll survey of the constituency indicates he now only holds a five-point lead over Lib Dem opponent Monica Harding.

The Tories have held the seat since 1910 but it voted 58% Remain in the 2016 referendum – and the former Brexit secretary is vocally anti-Brussels.

Asked if he was worried about being “the next Portillo at this election”, losing his seat in Surrey to the Lib Dems, Mr Raab told Sky News’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday: “Not really, but look … no well, the truth is with a seat like mine you never take anything for granted.”

He added: “The polls are all fluid and all over the place, but one thing it does show you, my constituency and up and down the country, is the risk of a hung parliament and that is a very real risk if you vote any other way than Conservative.

There are some interesting lines at the end from Corbyn about patriotism, often regarded as a front on which his opponents have been eager to hammer him on

“I am patriotic about the people of this country,” he says, to applause.

“Patriotism is about supporting each other, not attacking somebody else. It’s about caring for the whole of society, for all our people, and not walking by on the other side when they need help and support.”

Corbyn says that “Labour’s new internationalism” means the party will create a peace and conflict-prevention fund, and invest an extra £400 million to expand Britain’s diplomatic capacity and increase oversight of arms exports to ensure the UK is not fuelling conflicts, “as in Yemen and in Israel and the Palestinian territories.”

He adds: “Labour stands behind the international consensus of a genuine two-state solution – a secure Israel alongside a secure and viable state of Palestine.”

“That’s why Labour supports an end to half a century of Israeli occupation and the illegal settlements in occupied Palestinian territory, and a Labour government will recognise the state of Palestine.”

It is time for Britain to stop clinging on to Donald Trump’s coat-tails, says Corbyn, who describes the prime minister as the world’s leading sycophant towards the US president.

“From climate change denial to unconditional support for the Israeli far right, from racism to confrontation with China, Trump is taking the world on a dangerous path.”

“Britain must make its own foreign policy free from a knee-jerk subservience to a US administration which repudiates our values.”

He goes on to call on Johnson to release a potentially incendiary report examining Russian infiltration in British politics, including the Conservative party.

Corbyn adds that the government is also refusing to release another report into Saudi funding of extremist groups in Britain, adding: “Given Friday’s events and the continuing terror threat it is simply unacceptable that this report is not in the public domain.”

Corbyn turns to the Iraq war, saying: “Sixteen years ago, I warned against the invasion and occupation of Iraq.

“I said it would set off a spiral of conflict, hate, misery, desperation that will fuel the wars, the conflict, the terrorism and the misery of future generations.

“It did, and we are still living with the consequences today.”

He goes on: “Britain’s repeated military interventions in North Africa and the wider Middle East, including Afghanistan, have exacerbated rather than resolved the problems.”

“Now we risk being dragged into a further conflict with Iran on the side of a Saudi regime which is an enemy of human rights prolonging a desperate humanitarian crisis in Yemen, interfering in its neighbours’ affairs and murdering journalists.”

Jeremy Corbyn is speaking at an election event in York, where he is talking about the London bridge attack and tells those gathered that it is “more important than ever” for communities to come together.

People have a right to know what steps political leaders will take to keep people safe. The Labour leader goes on to reiterate his comments this morning that police were right to take the steps that they took on London Bridge – shooting Usman Khan dead in the belief that he was wearing a suicide vest.

However, Corbyn says that the part privatisation of the probation service by the Conservatives was a “disaster

“You can’t keep people safe on the cheap,” he adds.

“Real security does not only come from strong laws and intelligence. it comes from effective public services.

He turns, as expected, to foreign policy, adding that “for far too long” Britain’s leaders have taken the wrong steps. Too often the acts of successive governments have fuelled the threat of terrorism.

Boris Johnson will be the first UK prime minister – if re-elected – to enter office with the union under peril, the leader of the Ulster Unionist party has claimed.

Steve Aiken, of the Northern Ireland party with historic links to the Conservatives, said he hoped Johnson would not be re-elected as an MP next month.

He described the prime minister’s proposed Brexit withdrawal deal as threatening to make Northern Ireland “a place apart” due to the proposed regulatory border.

“The DUP on October 2 agreed to a border down the Irish Sea, that allowed Boris Johnson to march in with his withdrawal deal, and if the withdrawal deal goes through, Northern Ireland will well and truly be a place apart,” Aiken told the Press Association.

“But Boris Johnson’s activities are not just affecting Northern Ireland, they are affecting the entirety of the United Kingdom, and he is probably going to be the first prime minister if he gets re-elected – which I hope he doesn’t – he is going to be the first prime minister that comes back in a situation where the future of the union itself is under threat.”

Aiken’s party has been without MPs since 2017 when Tom Elliott lost his seat in Fermanagh and South Tyrone and Danny Kinahan lost in South Antrim.