Shabana Mahmood pledges to ‘strain every sinew’ and address ‘wider societal issues’ in wake of Golders Green terror attack

Both men are in a stable condition in hospital, while a 45-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder.

“I want to be very clear that this is a horrifying attack. It is now being declared as a terrorist incident. And my thoughts are with the victims, their families and the wider community as well,” Ms Mahmood began.

“An attack on our Jewish community is an attack on us all, and we take the safety of our Jewish community very seriously,” she insisted.

“I want them to feel safe. I do not want Jewish people in our country to be leading a smaller life, or to have to build ever higher walls in order to keep themselves safe.

“These are not warm words. They are a statement of intent and what is and what is not acceptable in our country.

“I will not tolerate a situation where our Jewish citizens have to lead smaller lives compared to the rest of us. That is not acceptable to me,” the Home Secretary reiterated.

“It is why we are taking very clear action on security, on protective security for the community, on more policing within the community and every other measure that we can to keep people safe,” she stressed.

Ms Mahmood also acknowledged that the Government had to “deal with the root causes that will take longer to deal with, because these issues of anti-Semitism did not appear overnight.

“I'm very clear that this government can and will take the action that is needed to root out anti-Semitism from our country for all.

“We, as a Government, need to respond to the wider societal issues that we are seeing so that we're straining every sinew to keep our community safe,” the Home Secretary assured.

When challenged, Ms Mahmood strongly rejected the suggestion that Labour were lax in its response to rising anti-semitism.

“I think it's absolutely abhorrent for anybody to try to play party politics with issues of safety, of our Jewish community in this country, or indeed of any of our citizens in this country.

“This is not a party political football for anybody to be knocking around,” she insisted.

“There is nothing other than the safety of our Jewish community that is on my mind when I'm taking the action that I am taking as Home Secretary.

“This has everything to do with keeping our own people in our own country safe.

“Any suggestion otherwise, I think, is absolutely abhorrent.”

The Home Secretary was speaking after police officers were first called to Highfield Avenue at 11.16am this morning to reports of a stabbing in Highfield Road, Golders Green.

Two men, one in his 70s and one in his 30s, were treated at the scene for stab wounds.

Before being arrested, the suspect attempted to stab police officers and was tasered.

Officers from the Met Police confirmed they are working to establish the nationality and background of the suspect.

Specialist officers from Counter-Terrorism Policing are leading the investigation and working with Scotland Yard to establish the full circumstances.

Head of Counter-Terrorism Policing Laurence Taylor said: “Whilst I must stress this investigation is at an early stage, we are working quickly to understand exactly what happened.

“Thank you to those who were in the area at the time and supported the response to this terrible incident.”