UK opposition leader urges PM to quit over police cuts

London: British opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn on Monday backed calls for Prime Minister Theresa May to resign for reducing the number of police officers during her six years as interior minister.

Asked by ITV television if he backed the calls for May to resign after three terror attacks in three months, the Labour Party leader said: "Indeed I would... We should never have cut the police numbers."

"There's been calls made by a lot of very responsible people on this who are very worried that she was at the Home Office for all this time, presided over these cuts in police numbers and is now saying that we have a problem -- yes, we do have a problem: we should never have cut the police numbers," he said.

Asked again if he wanted May to quit, Corbyn replied: "We've got an election on Thursday and that's perhaps the best opportunity to deal with it."

In a speech earlier today, May defended her record, insisting London's Metropolitan Police force was "well resourced" and has "very powerful counter-terrorism capabilities".