May Says EU Would Celebrate Corbyn Win as `Christmas Come Early'

(Bloomberg) -- U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May said that Brexit negotiators in Brussels would celebrate a an election win for Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and “think Christmas had come early.”

Three days before June 8 elections, May used a speech in central London to double down on her central campaign message that her rival is incapable of negotiating the U.K.’s divorce from the EU in talks due to start June 19, less than two weeks after Britons vote.

“He seems to think that any deal -– no matter what the price, no matter what the terms –- is better than no deal,” May said. “That’s not leadership. That’s an abdication of leadership.”

In the aftermath of Saturday’s terror attacks in central London, Corbyn and May have been trading blows over who has the worst record on countering terrorism, a theme that threatened to overshadow Brexit in the final stretch of the campaign.