May plays down sterling weakness - Bloomberg

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's Prime Theresa May played down recent falls in sterling in a television interview on Thursday, saying data since Britain voted to leave the European Union pointed to underlying strength in the economy.

"We have seen different movements in the pound over the last six months. But what we have also seen through the other economic data ... is the strength of the UK economy," May said in an interview with Bloomberg TV when asked if she feared the pound could hit parity against the U.S. dollar.

Sterling fell to one of its lowest levels against the dollar in more than 30 years on Monday in the run-up to a major speech by May on Britain's future relations with the EU.

May also said Britain would publish plans to tackle the potential threat to national security from foreign investment in key infrastructure.

"We are looking specifically at the question of critical national infrastructure and at the question of national security but in this area as in other areas we will be publishing proposals in due course," she said.

May also said she wanted to ensure financial services companies remained in London after Brexit.

(Reporting by David Milliken and Kylie MacLellan; editing by Stephen Addison)