The Liberal Democrat candidate for Islington South and Finsbury this afternoon said Emily Thornberry’s Labour majority will “crumble before her eyes” in June’s general election.

Terry Stacy, the former leader of Islington Council, was brimming with confidence after Prime Minister Theresa May called the election this morning.

Mr Stacy tore into Mrs Thornberry for voting in favour of Brexit when Islington was 75 per cent against it in last year’s EU referendum.

Mrs Thornberry won the 2015 election with 22,547 votes compared with third-placed Mr Stacy’s 4,829.

And Mr Stacy told the Gazette: “The Lib Dems say ‘bring it on’. Emily Thornberry and Jeremy Corbyn have put their party’s interests before their constitunecy’s over Brexit.

“This will be an election on Brexit and I hope the voters will show their contempt for Jeremy and Emily standing back to allow Theresa May’s ‘hard Brexit’.

“You think about the massive ‘remain’ vote in Islington and I could see Emily’s majority crumbling before her eyes.”

He added: “We’ve been pounding the streets week in, week out for considerable time. Our membership in Islington has quadrupled to about 1,000. I’ve seen people join this party who I never thought would do so. As I said: ‘Bring it on.’”

Mrs Thornberry was not available for comment when contacted by the Gazette.