For a few years, Britain was spared the worst of the Isis-inspired violence that has hit many European cities. Not any more. This weekend’s attack on London Bridge, in which three men ran down pedestrians with a van and rampaged through crowded bars with knives, was the third time Islamist extremists have struck the UK in as many months. Seven people were killed, besides the attackers, and 48 are in hospital, some in a critical condition.

We will have to wait to learn more about the identity and motives of the attackers and whether they had outside support. However, there is no doubt that the UK now faces a terrorist threat as acute as that seen in Nice, Berlin or Brussels. With each sickening attack, the pressure on government to respond intensifies; even more so this time, in the final days of a general election campaign.

Theresa May rightly confirmed the election would proceed as planned after the appropriate pause in campaigning. She also signalled her intention to step up the fight against radical Islamism, saying, “We cannot and must not pretend that things can continue as they are . . . Enough is enough.”