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Theresa May is "shifting blame" for the London and Manchester terror attacks and should resign, a former top Downing Street advisor declared today.

Steve Hilton - who was David Cameron 's strategy director - launched an extraordinary outburst against the Tory Prime Minister over security failings.

Despite his old boss presiding over years of police cuts, Mr Hilton wrote on Twitter: "Theresa May responsible for security failures of London Bridge, Manchester, Westminster Bridge.

"Should be resigning not seeking re-election.

"Theresa May blame-shifting again. Her spin doctors attack MI5, but she was in charge of them for years."

He added: "What's the point of electing someone who is clearly incompetent, however Tory-ish her language may be?"

'Blue-sky thinker' Mr Hilton was David Cameron's strategy director until he left in 2012 and has since become a critic of Tory government policy.

His comments came as the head of Scotland Yard said "of course" it was right to look at police resources in light of the recent attacks.

Labour says the cut in officer numbers, by around 20,000 since the Tories took power, made it harder for community police to nip potential extremism in the bud.

Met Police Commissioner Cressida Dick said: “We’ve now seen these ghastly attacks in London and in Manchester over the last several weeks. During that time we’ve also foiled another five plots.

“So yes of course, I think it’s appropriate for us all to look at the amount of resource that police have, both the counter-terror police but also our neighbourhood officers. The majority of people who responded on Saturday night and are now keeping London safe aren’t counter-terrorist police. They are general police or people with particular specialist skills.

“So of course we must look at that and look right across the strategy and the resourcing in the police and beyond.”

(Image: SWNS) (Image: Getty)

A top Tory was barracked on live TV over the issue as she was told police cuts may have put "civilians' blood" on Theresa May's hands.

Good Morning Britain host Piers Morgan monstered Karen Bradley for claiming it was "simplistic" to want more cops on the streets.

The Culture Secretary repeatedly refused to say more officers would make the public safer, and refused to give a straight answer to whether the number of armed officers had gone up or down.

Told many people would think more police would make the public safer, she responded: "I think that's a very simplistic argument.

"The Met Police Commissioner has been clear, they have the resources they need to deal with counter-terrorism.

"I think it's about how we deploy police officers, I think it's about how we manage the resources we have, I think it's about smart policing, looking at the changing nature of crime, and about the powers.

"If police don’t have the powers, it doesn’t really matter how many of them there are.

"And Jeremy Corbyn has voted against all those powers."