'NO PROMISES'
Jeremy Corbyn tells Andrew Neil he ‘makes no promises’ to slash migration and says numbers will ONLY go down if economy is strong
The Labour leader would only say he was in favour of 'managed migration'
JEREMY CORBYN has said he will make "no promises" to slash migration if he becomes Prime Minister next month.
The Labour leader would only say he was in favour of "managed migration" when we quit the European Union.
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In an embarrassing interview with the BBC's Andrew Neil this evening he also grilled over his links to the IRA, and his earlier speech where he linked the Manchester bombing to Britain's own foreign policy.
He refused to commit to cutting immigration this evening.
Mr Corbyn said: "We’ve had Theresa May promising in three elections to make cuts to immigration.
"I’m making no promises on that. We are in favour of managed immigration when the free movement ends when we leave the European Union."
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He was also quizzed over his support for the IRA during The Troubles.
"I didn't support the IRA. I don't support the IRA," Mr Corbyn said. "I always want and do want peace."
He went on to say: "I never met the IRA" despite inviting two members of the provisional IRA to Parliament just week after the Brighton bombing in 1984.
And he has been pictured multiple times with Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams.
Mr Corbyn also defended attending a minute's silence to honour IRA members who were killed.
He said this evening: "My role was supporting a process which would bring about a dialogue and I believe you have to talk."
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In the same interview Mr Corbyn refused AGAIN to back nuclear weapons and said he wants to achieve a "nuclear-free world".
The Labour leader left the door open to Britain getting rid of the weapons if he became Prime Minister next month.
Mr Corbyn repeatedly declined to say whether he agreed with renewing Trident.
His MPs have backed it, and it is still official Labour party policy despite his continued opposition.
"I voted against the renewal, everybody knows that, because I wanted to go in a different direction. That decision has been taken, I respect that decision," Mr Corbyn said.
Priti Patel, Secretary of State for International Development, said in response to tonight's interview:
"Corbyn didn’t answer a single question in that interview. He spent half an hour trying to escape from everything he had said and done in his 30 years in politics.
"The fact is he backed the IRA, doesn’t support NATO, wouldn’t renew Trident, wants to increase immigration and wants to massively increase taxes on working families.
"In two weeks’ time there is a choice. Either Jeremy Corbyn negotiating Brexit just 11 days after the election, or Theresa May. Brexit is central to everything – a vote for anyone other than Theresa May puts Corbyn in Downing Street and everything at risk."
"It's there in the programme, it's there in the manifesto, it will be carried out... it's the position we are adopting as a party and we will take into government."
But he said that if Labour wins the election next month, there would be a defence review which would "look at the role of nuclear weapons".
Theresa May accused him of making excuses - and said Mr Corbyn was blaming Britain for the attack.
At the G7 summit this afternoon Theresa May hit back at his claims saying “there can never, ever be an excuse for terrorism”.
She went on: “I have been here at the G7 working to fight terrorism… At the same time Jeremy Corbyn has said that terror attacks in Britain are our own fault… he has chosen to do that just a few days after one of the worst terror atrocities the United Kingdom has ever seen.
He said today that Britain needed a response to ISIS which "fights rather than fuels terrorism".
The Labour leader was accused of being “crass” and “putting politics before people” for his inflammatory claims - just four days after the terrorist attack in Manchester which claimed 22 innocent lives.