Keir Starmer was left scrambling today after he hailed legislation to help security services track terror suspects - only to be told Jeremy Corbyn failed to vote for it.

The shadow Brexit secretary struggled as he was grilled about Labour's support for cracking down on violent extremists in the wake of the attacks on London and Manchester.

Sir Keir, who has heavily criticised the veteran left-wing leader in the past, argued on ITV's Good Morning Britain that the party had been in favour of the Investigatory Powers Bill last year.

The legislation boosted the ability of the intelligence agencies to track communications between suspected terrorists.

Presenters Susanna Reid and Piers Morgan repeatedly challenged Sir Keir over whether Mr Corbyn had voted for the Investigatory Powers Bill

The shadow Brexit secretary struggled today as he was grilled about Labour's previous support for cracking down on violent extremists in the wake of the attacks on London and Manchester

'Last year, we had the Investigatory Powers Bill, which was a bill bringing together all the powers of the security intelligence services in terms of surveillance and everything that they do,' he said.

'I led the Labour Party on that. And we supported that bill.'

But presenters Susanna Reid and Piers Morgan repeatedly challenged him over whether Mr Corbyn had taken part in the Commons division.

Sir Keir said Labour had imposed a three-line whip on the vote - meaning that all of its MPs were obliged to back the bill.

'As far as I know, Jeremy voted. Certainly the Labour Party had a three line whip on it, and I led for that on it and we worked with the Prime Minister,' he said.

Still seeking an answer, Reid said: 'You’d want to know if your leader had voted for it though wouldn’t you?'

Sir Keir replied: 'He was the leader of the party who imposed a three line whip on it.'

she had received confirmation that Mr Corbyn had not voted.

'According to my brief, Jeremy Corbyn was absent from the vote,' she said.

Sir Keir said: 'Well I mean I don’t know. You know better than I do. I haven’t gone through the voting lists.'

Reid told him: 'It's not massively encouraging is it? The one thing you cited as evidence of Jeremy Corbyn actually promoting anything which might toughen terror laws was actually a thing he couldn’t be bothered to turn up and vote for.'

LABOUR OPPOSES MAY'S VOW TO GET TOUGHER ON TERROR Labour today vowed to oppose Theresa May's bid to toughen Britain's terror defences by easing human rights laws. The PM has also pledged to impose tougher restrictions on would-be jihadis who are known to pose a threat but cannot be prosecuted. Her plans include doubling maximum detention periods to 28 days, while she also wants universities to do more to flush out potential terrorists. But shadow Brexit secretary Keir Starmer made clear that Labour would not back such moves - accusing the PM of trying to distract from questions over the handling of intelligence about the London and Manchester attackers. Mrs May has said she wants changes to make it easier for the authorities to deport foreign terrorist suspects, and to look at the possibility of longer sentences for terrorism offences and restrictions on suspects' freedom of movement even where there is not enough evidence to prosecute them in court. She was the Home Secretary who finally managed to deport radical cleric Abu Qatada to Jordan after more than a decade of wrangling over whether fears over his alleged terror connections trumped his human rights. Advertisement

The shadow Brexit secretary tried to shrug of the row, saying that he represented the Labour Party position.

But Morgan broke in: 'The one example, Keir Starmer, that you chose to illustrate him not voting against terror legislation, actually it turned out he didn't vote in favour of terror legislation. So you get our point that we do not feel very comforted by this.

He added: 'Jeremy hasn’t supported any terrorism legislation ever by the look of it.'

Labour claimed Mr Corbyn had another engagement at the time of the vote and was 'paired' off with a Tory MP. The bill passed by 444 votes to 69.

International Development Secretary Priti Patel said: 'Kier Starmer has unwittingly highlighted what Labour are desperate to hide: Jeremy Corbyn's record of undermining the safety and security of Britain.

'Corbyn has boasted about voting against every piece of anti-terrorist legislation in the past thirty years, he has sided with Britain's enemies and he has shared platforms with speakers who espouse hatred and views that have no place in our society.

'The first duty of a Prime Minister is to keep the country safe and act in the national interest, it's simply not good enough to refuse to give the police the powers they need or to go missing in action like his shadow home secretary Diane Abbott.'

The bruising exchanges came as Labour vowed to oppose Theresa May's bid to toughen Britain's terror defences by easing human rights laws.

The PM has also pledged to impose tougher restrictions on would-be jihadis who are known to pose a threat but cannot be prosecuted.

Her plans include doubling maximum detention periods to 28 days, while she also wants universities to do more to flush out potential terrorists.

But Sir Keir Starmer made clear thatLabour would not back such moves - accusing the PM of trying to distract from questions over the handling of intelligence about the London and Manchester attackers.

Mrs May has said she wants changes to make it easier for the authorities to deport foreign terrorist suspects, and to look at the possibility of longer sentences for terrorism offences and restrictions on suspects' freedom of movement even where there is not enough evidence to prosecute them in court.

She was the Home Secretary who finally managed to deport radical cleric Abu Qatada to Jordan after more than a decade of wrangling over whether fears over his alleged terror connections trumped his human rights.

'If human rights laws stop us from doing that, then we will change those laws,' she told LBC radio. 'And the reason for that is - as I say - enough is enough.

'I think people recognise, as the threat has evolved, that things need to change in our response.'

Piers Morgan told Sir Keir: 'Jeremy hasn’t supported any terrorism legislation ever by the look of it.'

Jeremy Corbyn did not turn up to the vote on the Investigatory Powers Bill, despite Labour imposing a three line whip to support it. The party claimed he had another engagement last year and was 'paired' with another MP

The PM, pictured in Norwich today, has pledged to impose tougher restrictions on would-be jihadis who are known to pose a threat but cannot be prosecuted

CORBYN'S SHAMEFUL RECORD OF OPPOSING TERRORISM LAWS 1984 Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Provisions) Act - Outlawed terrorist groups in Northern Ireland. 1985 Updating the Prevention of Terrorism Act 1974 - Empowered police to question suspects travelling between Northern Ireland and Great Britain. 1989 Elected Authorities (Northern Ireland) Act 1989 - Obliges election candidates in Northern Ireland to renounce terrorism. 1989 Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Provisions) Act - Outlawed support for IRA. 1989 Security Service Act - Gave a formal legal basis to the Security Service for the first time. 1991 Northern Ireland (Emergency Provisions) - Enhances powers for police to search sites for weapons. 1996 Northern Ireland (Emergency Provisions) Act - Restricted possession of suspect items. 1998 Criminal Justice (Terrorism and Conspiracy) Act - Toughened sentences for being a member of terror group in the wake of the Omagh bombing. 2000 Terrorism Act - Gave police stronger powers including stop and search. 2001 The Terrorism Act 2000 (Proscribed Organisations) (Amendment) Order - Statutory instrument banning Al Qaeda. 2001 Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security Act - Introduced indefinite detention without charge for suspects who cannot be deported, after 9/11. 2005 Prevention of Terrorism Act - Created control orders for terror suspects. 2006 Terrorism Act - Outlawed 'glorification' of terror after 7/7 attack. 2008 Counter-Terrorism Act - Restricted information about Armed Forces. 2011 Terrorism Prevention and Investigation Measures Act - Replaced control orders with looser TPIMS. 2013 Justice and Security Act - Secret court hearings on matters of national security. 2014 Data Retention and Investigatory Powers Act - Granted police emergency access to phone and internet records. Advertisement

Senior British Army officer warns that Jeremy Corbyn has been 'too tolerant' of extremism in a devastating eve of election attack on the Labour leader

Colonel Tim Collins has torn into Jeremy Corbyn's record on extremism

A senior British officer celebrated as a hero in the Iraq War today accused Jeremy Corbyn of being 'too tolerant' of extremism.

Colonel Tim Collins, famed for his rousing eve-of-battle speech to his men in 2003, has torn into the Labour leader over his record on terrorism on the eve of the election.

In a devastating assessment, he Mr Corbyn 'anti-colonialist impulses' have led him to act as a 'dangerous loudspeaker for many terrorist and extremist groups' masquerading as political movements.

He attacked Mr Corbyn for attempting to link the UK's 'war on terror' with attacks on the streets of Britain in a controversial speech in the wake of the Manchester terror attack.

And Colonel Collins accused the Labour leader of giving 'succour and encouragement' to the IRA during their decades long bombing and shooting campaign.

His intervention comes after Theresa May vowed a fresh crackdown on terrorism in the wake of the three attacks on Britain. The PM promised to tear up human rights laws if that is what it takes to keep Britain safe.

In a piece written for the The Daily Mail, Colonel Collins said: 'Theresa May is right.

'The UK has been far too tolerant of Islamist extremism - and we need look no further than Jeremy Corbyn for proof of this.

'The Labour leader was dangerously wrong when he stated that the UK’s foreign interventions, many of which I served in, are the cause of home-grown terror.

'They are merely an excuse, utilised cunningly by hardened Islamist recruiters who were in the UK long before they began and will remain long after.

'But then Corbyn’s anti-colonialist impulses have long led him to act as a dangerous loudspeaker for many terrorist and extremist groups masquerading as political movements, from the IRA, to the Palestinian militants Hamas and the PLO, to the Eygpt-grown Muslim Brotherhood.'

He said that Britain must learn the lessons from The Troubles in Northern Ireland if it is to defeat ISIS and 'confront the conveyor belt of terror'.

Colonel Tim Collins said the Labour leader had given 'succour and encouragement' to the IRA

And he said that community policing by officers who can spot the early warning signs of radicalisation is crucial to stamping out the threat.

This should be twinned with recruiting informants who can act as the eyes and ears of the authorities within communities, he added.

But he warned that in his many decades as an MP, Mr Corbyn has encouraged extremists by feeding them excuses.

He wrote: 'In the meantime, let us not forget that Jeremy Corbyn gave succour and encouragement to the IRA during their armed campaign, which included obliterating the centre of Manchester with a one-tonne bomb in 1996.

'He has form for supporting subversive causes.

'Since he is already repeating the Muslim Brotherhood mantra that it is the UK foreign policy that is at fault rather that this murderous ideology, how soon will we have to wait before he publicly endorses them?

'As Britain heads to the polls, we have to face the facts: it was not well-meaning sympathisers that brought Sinn Fein to the negotiating table, it was the IRA’s near destruction, by police Special Branch.

'And that is the answer to Islamist extremists too.'

His intervention comes just hours before Britain goes to the polls in what Mrs May has descries as the most important election in her lifetime.

Concerns over terrorism and security have come to the forefront in the dramatic closing stages of the campaign after Britain was hit by three deadly terror attacks in a matter of months.