Jeremy Corbyn to take part in debate despite May boycott

LONDON: UK Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said he will take part in a seven-way general election debate on Wednesday night as Prime Minister Theresa May stuck to her position that she would rather address voters than confront her rival on live television. The BBC, which is hosting the debate at 7:30 pm, confirmed that Corbyn had decided to attend, while a Conservative Party spokesman said that May had no plans to join him.

The prime minister has seen her once-comfortable poll lead erode a week before the vote. “It puts her in a bind,” said Matt Beech, director of the Centre for British Politics at the University of Hull. “It’s difficult but I think the most sensible thing is for May to stick by her guns — as a PM you lose the gravitas when you’re brought to the level of all these other potentials most of whom don’t have a chance of winning. If she does turn up she looks like she’s not stable and not steady.”