You can't take tea with terrorists who want to kill us, writes Defence Secretary MICHAEL FALLON 

Islamic State is the evil of our age. A heinous terrorist death cult which is a direct threat to our national security and revels in bringing murder and destruction to its strongholds in Syria and Iraq.

It claims to represent Islam but has warped this great religion into a recruiting sergeant for barbaric atrocities. 

Women and girls are systematically raped and abused by IS militants. Those who reject its twisted ideology face being beheaded, crucified or burned alive. Children are used as human shields on the battlefield.

Ancient cities are destroyed as IS seeks to wipe out all signs of civilisation and bring about a new dark age.

A sophisticated propaganda machine uses the internet to spread its message around the world – intent on poisoning young minds and radicalising people into carrying out attacks on the UK and elsewhere.

That is why Britain is proud to be playing a leading role in the Global Coalition against Islamic State – 65 countries committed to eliminating the threat it poses to us all.

Together we are working to defeat IS on the battlefield, disrupt its finances, prevent foreign fighters joining its deranged cause, backing aid and stabilisation programmes, and fighting back against its propaganda.

I have just returned from the Global Coalition meeting in Copenhagen, and thankfully we are making progress. IS has lost nearly two thirds of the territory it controlled in Iraq, and more than a third it held in Syria.

Four million people have been freed from IS rule. Thousands of its terrorist fighters have been killed. Britain’s armed forces have been key to this success. Around 1,350 servicemen and women work every day to hit IS. The British Army trains Iraqi forces.

The Royal Navy helps protect US aircraft carriers. RAF Typhoons, Tornados and Reaper unmanned aircraft have carried out more than 1,000 strikes in Syria and Iraq - second only to the US - taking every effort to minimise civilian casualties.

But this is a hard fight, and Britain must not waver from its commitment to defeat this evil. Nor should be seen to do so. Which is why some of the comments we have seen from Jeremy Corbyn recently have been dangerously irresponsible.

Corbyn, who could be our prime minister in four weeks’ time, has hinted he wants to end the RAF strikes in Syria which are hitting IS in its heartlands. He has suggested he would not authorise a drone strike to take out the group’s barbaric leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, calling for a ‘political solution’ instead.

Let’s be clear what this means: Corbyn wants peace talks with a murderous terrorist organisation that wants to wipe Western civilisation off the face of the Earth.

Last weekend footage emerged of Corbyn calling for our drone programme to be scrapped entirely. The same Reaper drones that in recent months have been providing critical surveillance to help Iraqi forces banish IS from Mosul, and supporting that by eliminating terrorists with Hellfire missiles and GBU-12 guided bombs.

Today we learn Corbyn thinks Nato’s role as a global peacekeeper – and its guarantee that an attack on one member is an attack on all – is “nonsense”.

He has previously called for it to be ‘closed down’, and former chiefs have warned he has already undermined Nato’s credibility. And Corbyn’s obsession with scrapping our Trident nuclear deterrent, and slashing military spending, is well known. He even thinks we should abolish our Army.

In contrast, today Theresa May is pledging that a Conservative Government will honour our Nato commitment to spend at least 2 per cent of GDP on defence – and increase the defence budget by at least 0.5 per cent in real terms every year.

Jeremy Corbyn’s misguided idealism would be a security risk to the United Kingdom. Of course we all want peace.

But we also have to show in no uncertain terms that we are prepared to defend our values against those who seek to attack us and destroy our way of life.

You can’t hold peace talks or take tea with terrorists who are determined to murder innocent civilians in London and other European cities.

You have to be prepared as the prime minister to take military action if that is the only way of preventing attacks on this country. To suggest otherwise will only encourage IS to redouble its efforts – and hands it a huge propaganda victory by suggesting we are giving up the fight and are prepared to live alongside these despicable extremists.

The stakes are high at the general election on June 8 and voters face a clear choice.

Do you want the strong and stable leadership of Theresa May and the Conservatives, who have a proven track record in taking the difficult decisions needed to keep our country safe?

Or do you want a weak and floundering Jeremy Corbyn in Downing Street, a man who cannot say if he would authorise a strike to kill the leader of Islamic State - a terrorist group that wants to destroy us?

It’s too big a risk.