HOME SECRETARY Priti Patel’s absurd claim yesterday that Labour’s policies would lead to an extra 52 murders a year was cooked up by the Conservative’s research department, so of course can’t be taken seriously, but it will still be used to reinforce the ruling party’s “law and order” narrative.

What the Tories don’t want you to know is that it’s actually their savage cuts to the criminal justice system and failed probation privatisation that have put the public at greater risk.

Everyone knows about the steep drop in police numbers, but at Prime Minister’s Questions back in March, Jeremy Corbyn revealed: “The number of rapes, murders and other serious crimes committed by offenders on parole has risen by more than 50 per cent since the privatisation of the probation service was introduced four years ago.”