Using a nerve agent on UK soil ‘appalling and reckless’: Theresa May

Theresa May today branded an attempt to kill a Russian double agent with a nerve agent an ‘appalling and reckless crime’.  

The Prime Minister said she would do ‘what is right’ if it was proven the Kremlin was responsible for the attempt on Sergei Skripal’s life.  

She hinted at support for expelling the Russian ambassador if the case was proven.  

Mrs May’s new intervention came after the police confirmed a rare nerve agent was used in the attempted assassination in Salisbury on Sunday.  

Home Secretary Amber Rudd updated MPs on the latest steps in the investigation in the Commons today.  

She said it was an ‘outrageous crime’ and using a nerve agent on British soil was a ‘brazen and reckless act’ that was ‘attempted murder in the most cruel and reckless way’.   

The Home Secretary urged caution on speculation about who is responsible.  

The Prime Minister said: ‘First of all the police are still investigating, obviously, we need to let the police have the space and time to conduct their investigating so that we get the best possible evidence of what has happened in this 
particular case.  

‘Of course if action needs to be taken then the government will do that.  

Asked if she would expel the ambassador, Mrs May said: ‘We will do what is appropriate, we will do what is right, if it is proved to be the case that this is State sponsored.  
UK, (Daily Mail), 
8 March 2018