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Theresa May has refused to rule out holding another general election within five years.

The Prime Minister's shock statement is likely to leave journalists and ordinary members of the public devastated - not to mention Brenda from Bristol.

The retired secretary became an overnight celebrity when Mrs May called the election six weeks ago, declaring: "Not another one!"

Since then there's been no guarantee of a respite in future.

The Tory leader spent months denying she would hold a poll, but then not only announced one - she also vowed to repeal the Fixed Term Parliaments Act, so if she wins she can call another election whenever she likes.

Rallying Tory activists in a campaign event in Norwich, the Tory leader was asked to guarantee there would be no more general elections or referendums “for the next five years”.

But to widespread dismay, she offered no such assurance.

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(Image: Getty Images Europe) (Image: REUTERS)

Instead, she performed a characteristic dodge, saying: “When I called the election I said it was because I was concerned that the other parties wanted to frustrate the Brexit negotiations, but also because the country needed that stability over the five years.

“On the question of a referendum, I can assure you we are the one party that is going to deliver on the will of the British people, respect the will of the British people, ensure we come out of Brexit and there is no second referendum - unlike other parties.”

The last few years have had the most crowded political calendar in living memory.

Britain has already had the 2014 Scottish independence referendum, 2015 general election and 2016 EU referendum .

The swerve leaves the door open to another Scottish independence referendum, as demanded by Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP .

(Image: REUTERS) (Image: Getty Images Europe)

Earlier Mrs May faced criticism over her "desperate" last-minute pledge to rip up human rights laws that "get in the way" of fighting terror.

The PM denied her plans amounted to a U-turn after she axed control orders in 2011.

Defending the bid in the face of mounting criticism as she campaigned in Norwich, she insisted: “We are seeing the terrorist threat changing, we are seeing it evolve and we need to respond to that.

“As I said on the steps of Downing Street, enough is enough and things have to change.

“That's why I've said I believe we do need to do more to tackle the ideology that is motivating the perpetrators of these attacks.

“I think we do need to have those international agreements to regulate cyber space so the terrorists cannot plan online.

“I think we need to do more to stamp out extremism here in communities in Britain, and yes we do need to look at the powers for the police and the security and intelligence agencies to make sure that as the threat evolves they have the powers they need.”

Asked if it was a U-turn, she squirmed: “No. The reason we did what we did with control orders is because the courts were increasingly knocking those control orders down, so we did introduce the T-Pims and we have subsequently enhanced the T-Pims.

“Now, we are seeing the threat evolving, becoming more complex, it's right that we look again at what powers are needed in order to be able to ensure the police and security services have what they need.”