Theresa May’s ministers 'are planning yet more cuts to counter-terror budget'

Ministers are planning a £32 million cut to the budget of a counter-terrorism office which Theresa May described as ‘the heart of the UK’s response’, according to The Times.

Home Office documents seen by The Times show planned reductions in funding to the Office for Security and Counterterrorism (OSCT).

The OSCT unit is responsible for terrorism strategy – and funds Prevent, a programme credited with preventing dozens of potential radicals from visiting Syria.

MORE: What time do the polls open for the General Election and where can I vote?

MORE: Tory candidate tells audience: I’m really pleased we’ve got food banks

The budget is planned to drop from £856 million this year to £824 million.

The revelation comes in the wake of criticism over cuts to police budgets during Theresa May’s time as home secretary.

In the wake of the attacks, Labour has criticised May for cuts to front-line police officers while she was Home Secretary.

Yvette Cooper, who who chaired the House of Commons Home Affairs Committee in the last parliament, said she supported Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn’s comments in a speech on Sunday night in which he said the public could not be protected “on the cheap” and criticised Theresa May’s record on resources for the police.

She praised the armed response to the attack in London Bridge and Borough Market on Saturday, but told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: ‘Many of us have been warning for some time that the scale of police cuts in Britain have gone too far – to lose 20,000 officers wasn’t the right thing for our future and we should be trying to increase them again.