United Kingdom (UK) Prime Minister Boris Johnson has come under fire for calling for harsher sentences in the wake of the London Bridge attack, the Guardian newspaper has reported.

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Johnson held the view that some people are beyond rehabilitation and do not deserve to be released.

In an article published by the Guardian newspaper, Doc Martens, the father of Jack Meritt, one of the two victims of the Friday attack, launched a veiled attack on the PM.

Mr Martens contended that his son, were he alive, would not have approved of an approach that elevates revenge over rehabilitation.

"What Jack would want from this is for all of us to walk through the door he has booted down, in his black Doc Martens," he said as quoted by BBC.

"That door opens up a world where we do not lock up and throw away the key. Where we do not give indeterminate sentences, or convict people on joint enterprise. Where we do not slash prison budgets, and where we focus on rehabilitation not revenge," he added.

The Labour party also accused the prime minister of using the knife attack for political ends.

Usman Khan, the man responsible for the attack, was shot dead by law enforcement officers after he defied orders to surrender.