Matthew has slammed comments made by Jeremy Corbyn about the sentencing of terrorists.
When asked in a television interview whether convicted terrorists should serve their full sentence given to them by a judge, Mr Corbyn replied: "I think it depends on the circumstances and depends on the sentence and crucially depends on what they've done in prison."
When the interviewer asked "not necessarily then?", Mr Corbyn responded: "Not necessarily, no."
Matthew said: “These acts of terrorism are heinous crimes that target innocent people simply going about their daily lives. Throughout his political career Jeremy Corbyn has defended the IRA, called Hamas his friends and even defended Russia after the chemical attack on the streets of Salisbury."
Today, the Labour leader presents his decades of support for the most violent Irish republican terrorist groups as a far sighted move to bring about a peace process. Yet at the time, Corbyn voted against the Anglo-Irish agreement which initiated the peace process. In Parliament, he said: “We believe that the agreement strengthens rather than weakens the border between the six and the 26 counties, and those of us who wish to see a United Ireland oppose the agreement.”
Matthew continued: "Now Corbyn has committed Labour to oppose the Prime Minister’s plan for automatic life sentences for terrorists. And look at his record. Corbyn said ISIS bride Shamima Begum should be allowed back into Britain and ‘given our support’. He opposes measures to remove passports from individuals who travel to Syria. He is against the security forces using lethal force to stop terrorists.
"Corbyn voted against legislation in 2001 which designated Al Qa’ida, Hamas, and Islamic Jihad as terrorists and banned them from the UK. Corbyn said it was to “encourage peace process”. Just months later Al Qa’ida launched their 9/11 attacks.
"While on the homefront the Corbynistas would weaken our defences, abroad they would fundamentally change Britain’s role in the world. They would not support action overseas to keep us safe. In a 2017 interview with Andrew Marr, Corbyn spent a minute refusing to answer if he would authorise a drone strike on Abu Bakar al-Baghdadi, the leader of ISIL.
"Instead of terrorists, Corbyn has always blamed terrorism on the West. Discussing the attacks in Washington and New York less than a month after 9/11, he told Parliament that Hamas and Hezbollah were his “friends.” Asked later if he regretted saying this, he said: “No. It was inclusive language I used which with hindsight I would rather not have used.”
"He famously laid a wreath at an event honouring terrorists involved in the massacre of Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics. It’s worth recalling that some of Israeli athletes killed that day were castrated and tortured before being murdered.
"Corbyn famously invited two convicted IRA terrorists to Parliament just days after the IRA murdered five people in the Brighton bombings. It wasn’t a one off though. In 1989, the Labour campaign for Peace in Ireland demanded that he be expelled from the party, after Sinn Fein / IRA representatives were invited to the Labour conference days after murdering 11 Marines at their barracks.
Corbyn was again threatened with expulsion for inviting Sinn Fein to Parliament during the IRA’s 1996 bombing campaign. His response to the Salisbury poisonings was to question the evidence of our own security services that the attack could only have come from Russia. He said, “I want to see incontrovertible evidence of it. If we are going to make a very, very clear assertion like that we have got to have the absolute evidence to do it.”
"Imagine if Corbyn became Prime Minister. He and his Home Secretary Diane Abbott would not take the difficult decisions to keep us safe. We can’t let that happen.”
