British committee echoes Irish Brexit security fears
The safety and security of EU and UK citizens will be at “serious and unnecessary risk” unless urgent progress is made in Brexit negotiations, a British parliamentary body has said.
The British Home Affairs Committee said that unless comprehensive agreements are made on security issues, there will “undoubtedly” be cases where justice to victims of crime will be “frustrated or denied” and where criminals will be able to evade arrest for longer.
The committee’s warnings follow previous concerns here about the impact of Brexit, from the DPP Claire Loftus, Garda Commissioner Drew Harris, and Chief Justice Frank Clarke.
The committee said a ‘no deal’ Brexit was an “increasingly plausible outcome”, and flagged serious worries on issues relating to the European Arrest Warrant, access to security databases, and involvement in the EU police agency Europol.
It called on the British government to obtain long-term access to SIS II in order to identify individuals who pose a genuine threat coming into the country, and indeed from Britain and into the EU. It said losing access to SIS II would be a “calamitous outcome” for the UK.
The British government said it disagreed with their concerns about a lack of progress in negotiations.
However, it did share some of its concerns if agreements are not made, and admitted that an end to Britain being able to access EU databases such as SIS II would be “detrimental” both for the UK and EU member states.
The committee said it was becoming “increasingly frustrated and concerned about the lack of progress” in negotiations to date.
“A ‘no deal’ Brexit is an increasingly plausible outcome, but we are unconvinced that the government is planning adequately to prevent the most unthinkable of outcomes from becoming a reality,” it said.
Without urgent action to make progress in these negotiations, and to put workable contingency plans in place, the safety and security of UK and EU citizens will be put at serious and unnecessary risk.
The British government disagreed and said the implementation period “has to be time-limited” with an end date of December 31, 2020.
The committee is unclear as to how the European Arrest Warrant will operate and what role the UK will have in Europol after Britain leaves next March.
The British government agreed it would be in the best interests of the UK and the EU for Britain to maintain its role with Europol.
