May deploys Johnson to woo Pro-Brexit voters

Bloomberg

Conservative Prime Minister Theresa May will deploy Boris Johnson to the northeast of England in a bid to conquer Brexit-supporting Labour strongholds, even as the fallout from the London terror attacks continues to dominate the campaign.
Johnson, one of the faces of the Leave campaign, will say in a Tuesday speech that only May can “get Brexit right.” Labour will aim to shore up its support in working-class areas with a warning that May’s plans to cut winter heating support for the elderly will cause thousands of extra deaths.
“This is the moment to believe in the huge potential of Brexit Britain,” Johnson will say, according to extracts released by the party. “If we are to make the most of that opportunity, then we need the right economic policies and it makes me shudder to think that we could be seriously about to elect” a Labour-led government.
Faced with a dramatic narrowing in their poll lead, the Tories are trying to drag the campaign back to focus on Brexit and May’s leadership. But three days after the London Bridge attack, they continue to face criticism for cutting police numbers, with Johnson batting off questions on Tuesday about how the terrorists slipped from authorities’ grasp.
Johnson, a former mayor of London, said voters were right to ask “how did this person slip through in the way it appears he has” and pledged to intensify efforts to stop foreign powers funding extremists.

London Mayor
Wading into a campaign from which he has has been largely absent, London Mayor Sadiq Khan said it will be harder to thwart terrorist attacks if May wins the election. The Tories plan 400 million pounds ($516 million) of cuts to the Metropolitan Police, Khan said.
“Cuts on this scale would make it harder to foil future terrorist attacks on our city and as Mayor of London I’m simply not willing to stand by and let that happen,” the mayor said.
But even as the Conservatives, and particularly former home secretary May, are slammed for squeezing police budgets, the Labour Party is struggling to convince voters it has the answers on security. Home Affairs Spokeswoman Diane Abbott has had a series of slip-ups in television interviews where she has failed to show a grasp of the main issues.
May, who called the election early when polls pointed to a landslide victory, continues to lead an aggressive campaign to seize Labour seats. That was underlined by a stop Monday evening in the northern city of Bradford—in a seat her party last won in 1918. She’s aiming to persuade those who voted for the UK Independence Party in 2015 to back her this time.
Johnson, tipped to be prime minister after the 2016 Brexit referendum, remains a popular politician who is appealing to UKIP supporters. A ComRes poll of those who backed UKIP in 2015 for the Tuesday edition of the Sun newspaper found 48 percent would be backing the Conservatives.