JEREMY Corbyn has been forced to deny plans to shut down MI5 after being attacked by Boris Johnson over terror.
The far-left leader was blasted over his plans for the security services as the Prime Minister accused him of failing to understand the “huge issues of safety on public streets”.
Appearing on the BBC Election Debate, Mr Johnson pointed out Diane Abbott had previously signed an early day motion to abolish Mi5.
He said: “When you look at Mi5, the body that keeps us safe from terror attacks, he’s proposing to put in a home secretary in the form of Diane Abbott who has called for Mi5 to be disbanded.”
Mr Corbyn insisted his party could be trusted on security, and pointed out it was the Conservatives who have cut police numbers.
He said: “There are no plans whatsoever to disband Mi5 or any other part of the security services.
“There are plans to invest properly in our police and security services.”
Ms Abbott had signed a parliamentary motion in 1989 calling for it to be scrapped, but says she has since changed her views.
The clash comes less than a week after the Home Secretary Priti Patel warned Ms Abbott could not be trusted to keep Britain safe.
Writing in the Sun, she said: “I simply dont believe that Diane Abbott, who will become Home Secretary if we dont secure a Tory government on December 12, would sign off operations that make attacks like the one on London Bridge a rarity.”
The party leaders also clashed over Mr Corbyn’s alleged support the for IRA in a heated exchange over the future of the union.
Earning the first applause of the night, Mr Johnson said: “I find it slightly curious to be lectured about the union by a man who all his political life has campaigned and supported for four decades to break up the Union, and for the IRA for violently to destroy it.”
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