Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson stands by his claim that British ISIS recruits should be ‘eliminated’

GAVIN Williamson has refused to back down from his vow to see Brit jihadis killed before they could return home in the face of a furious row.

The defence secretary first called for British IS fighters to be eliminated in The Sun last month and has recently repeated them.

Despite outrage from Labour and the legal establishment, he is standing by his original decision that the extremists should not be allowed back on British soil.

He said the UK should do everything to “eliminate that threat” but critics accused him of being “juvenile” and endorsing action more suited to a “Netflix series”.

The new defence chief told the Daily Mail: “The British people want to make sure that our streets are safe.

“The British people are incredibly proud of our Armed Forces, the work they do – making sure that the people who are a threat to this country are not able to continue to threaten this country.

“That’s what the British people want to know that their Government is doing. That is what we will continue to do.”

But Lord Macdonald, former Director of Public Prosecutionsm, said it was a “juvenile response” that “belongs in a Netflix series”.

And Labour MP and former paratrooper Dan Jarvis said Mr Williamson’s comments were “morally, legally and practically wrong”.