PM Theresa May says “enough is enough”. Calls for review of Britain’s counter-terrorism strategy

British Prime Minister Theresa May called for a review of the country’s counter-terrorism strategy as she thanked forces and citizens for their bravery and courage.

In her first statement after the Cobra meeting scheduled for Sunday morning, after the attack, Theresa May confirmed that it took police officers only eight minutes to neutralize the threat.

“As so often in such serious situations, the police responded with great courage and great speed. Armed officers from the Metropolitan Police and the City of London Police arrived at Borough Market within moments, and shot and killed the 3 suspects. The terrorists were confronted and shot by armed officers within 8 minutes of the police receiving the first emergency call,” the PM told reporters.

She thanked police, emergency services and citizens for the way in which they reacted in the wake of the attack.

“On behalf of the people of London, and on behalf of the whole country, I want to thank and pay tribute to the professionalism and bravery of the police and the emergency services – and the courage of members of the public who defended themselves and others from the attackers. And our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and with their friends, families and loved ones,” Theresa May said.

Theresa May warned that Britain could be experiencing another trend in terrorism attacks. She told reporters that the new attacks are not well planed but terrorists act like copy-cats, using crude methods to make victims and inspire fear.

“In terms of their planning and execution, the recent attacks are not connected. But we believe we are experiencing a new trend in the threat we face, as terrorism breeds terrorism, and perpetrators are inspired to attack not only on the basis of carefully-constructed plots after years of planning and training – and not even as lone attackers radicalised online – but by copying one another and often using the crudest of means of attack,” May said in her statement.

Britain’s PM called for change targeting mainly online networks where people can be radicalised. She told reporters that what the terrorists had in common was the ideology of of Islamist extremism. She called on the international community to come together to fight against extremism.

” We cannot allow this ideology the safe space it needs to breed. Yet that is precisely what the internet – and the big companies that provide internet-based services – provide. We need to work with allied, democratic governments to reach international agreements that regulate cyberspace to prevent the spread of extremism and terrorist planning. And we need to do everything we can at home to reduce the risks of extremism online,” she told the international community.

The Prime Minister also called for a review Britain’s counter-terrorism strategy to make sure the police and security services have all the powers they need.

“If we need to increase the length of custodial sentences for terrorism-related offences, even apparently less serious offences, that is what we will do”, she said.

At the end of her statement, Theresa May called for unity.

“As a country, our response must be as it has always been when we have been confronted by violence. We must come together, we must pull together, and united we will take on and defeat our enemies,” Theresa May said.