UK General election 2017
Corbyn pledges change at home and abroad
BBC
UK foreign policy would change under a Labour government to one that reduces rather than increases the threat to the country, Jeremy Corbyn has said, reports BBC.
He said many experts had linked UK involvement in wars abroad to terrorism at home, as election campaigning resumed after the Manchester attack.
He also pledged to reverse police spending cuts - but stressed the blame for attacks lay with the terrorists.
Opponents criticised his speech, coming days after the attack which killed 22.
Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said it was absolutely monstrous that the Labour leader had attempted to justify or legitimise the actions of terrorists.
And Lib Dem Leader Tim Farron accused Mr Corbyn of using the grotesque attack in Manchester to make a political point.
Mr Corbyn delivered his speech as the bigger political parties return to the campaign trail following Monday nights suicide bombing at Manchester Arena.
He pledged a change at home and change abroad if Labour won power - with a new foreign policy approach and more money for police, the NHS and security services.
He said he did not want to make a narrow political point as Britons had to stand together after the attack. But he added: 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.
He said that many experts, including professionals in our intelligence and security services, have pointed out the connections between wars that we have been involved in, or supported, or fought, in other countries and terrorism here at home.
But he added: That assessment in no way reduces the guilt of those who attack our children. Those terrorists will forever be reviled and implacably held to account for their actions.
The blame is with the terrorists, but if we are to protect our people we must be honest about what threatens our security.
He said the causes certainly cannot be reduced to foreign policy decisions alone and said the prison system, where a subculture of often suicidal violence had developed among some young men, was also in need of resources and reform.
Mr Corbyn also said that a Labour government would fund more police and ensure the security services had sufficient resources to keep track of those who wish to murder and maim.
On deploying British troops, he said he would tell them: You will only be deployed abroad when there is a clear need and only when there is a plan that you have the resources to do your job and secure an outcome that delivers lasting peace.
Former MI5 chief Baroness Manningham-Buller told the Iraq Inquiry in 2010 that the 2003 invasion of Iraq had undoubtedly increased the terror threat to the UK and had radicalised a few among a generation who saw our involvement in Iraq, on top of our involvement in Afghanistan, as being an attack on Islam.
