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Prime Minister Theresa May squirmed in a TV interview as she was forced to admit a key anti-terror power has been used on just one suspected jihadist in two years.

Mrs May was being questioned by ITV's Julie Etchingham about temporary exclusion orders (TEO).

They were introduced in 2015 when she was Home Secretary to intercept British jihadists attempting to return to the UK after fighting in Syria.

But Home Secretary Amber Rudd confirmed last week just one of the 350 suspected UK jihadists who has returned from Syria have been slapped with a TEO.

It comes at a time of major scrutiny of Britain's anti-terror measures in the wake of the Westminster attack, the Manchester Arena bombing and the London Bridge killings in the space of two months.

(Image: ITV's Tonight programme)

In the humiliating interview to be broadcast on Tuesday night, the presenter asks: "Two other measures which were brought in under your watch as Home Secretary, they were temporary exclusion orders and also terrorist prevention and investigation measures which replaced the old control orders.

"It’s estimated that around half of the 850 Brits who are thought to have travelled to Syria may have returned.

(Image: ITV's Tonight programme)

"How many times are those temporary exclusion orders now been used? Because they’d only been used once since 2015 on the latest figures."

Mrs May replied: "Yes. And the point is that the temporary exclusion order was not the only power available to our police and security services."

Ms Etchingham pressed the Prime Minister: "But how many times has that actually been used?"

(Image: Greater Manchester Police)

(Image: PA) (Image: PA)

She replied: "It has been used once since 2015. But the point about the temporary exclusion order is that it is an additional power for our police to use when they believe it is operationally right to do so.

"So, for some of those people returning from abroad if they’ve been involved in terrorist activity, if there’s evidence for prosecution, they will be prosecuted.

"It is for the police and our security services to identify on that case by case basis what is the right action to take in relation to any individual, and believe you me, when we can prosecute, they do."