Rebecca Taylor: Tory hostility to Europe threatens fight against crime

My fellow Yorkshire Liberal Democrat colleague Edward McMillan-Scott MEP has pioneered the use of cross-border police co-operation when he took on the Spanish villa and timeshare crooks, and later championed tug-of-love mums like Naomi Button.

As Liberal Democrats, we believe in this cross-border co-operation. We want to ensure the United Kingdom is at the centre international crime-fighting measures. These are tools that help fight those who would put our country at great risk including terrorists, drug smugglers or paedophiles.

It is with some concern, however, that we see the traditional “law and order” party, the Conservatives, are increasingly putting their own eurosceptic views ahead of national security and law and order, even more so following the murder of Drummer Lee Rigby. Their stated intention to pull out of EU crime-fighting measures to satisfy their ideological “repatriation” demands are truly astounding.

We need to remember that these very measures have been used so effectively here in Britain. Using the European Arrest Warrant, dozens of criminals and terrorists have been extradited back to the UK to face justice. These have included high-level gangsters who sought to escape capture by fleeing to the Costa del Sol. We know that since 2009, there have been 26 murderers, 10 rapists, 10 human traffickers and 39 child sex offenders returned to Britain to face trial. The absence of the European Arrest Warrant would mean protracted extradition cases.

These would last many years and result in considerable costs, running into thousands of pounds, being wasted in taxpayers’ money.

Leading experts from many different fields have made clear that these EU crime fighting measures are much needed. Police bodies too have protested at the possibility of the UK backing out of this increasingly valuable mechanism.

Now a House of Lords committee has published a report, based on a wealth of evidence from police and other law enforcement experts, which has concluded that an “opt-out” from EU crime fighting co-operation would seriously prejudice the UK’s national security.

Ultimately, we must recognise that we are in the 21st century and that many crimes do not take place solely in one country nor do many criminals stay in one either.

I am opposed to moves that would potentially weaken the UK’s ability to fight crime.

Across Europe cooperation on crime is essential to tackle serious criminals.

Do the Conservatives really want to let these people off the hook? Yet, despite the wealth of evidence, many Conservatives are still determined to walk away from these vital crime-fighting tools.

Currently, thanks to the measures provided by the EU, there are arrangements to speed up sharing suspects’ DNA profiles and fingerprints, as well as joint working in areas as varied as terrorism, football hooliganism and human trafficking.

These are all important areas that benefit from the ability to work with partner nations across the EU.

What is also worrying is the Conservative preference – opting out of everything then picking and choosing what to have – would be so much more complicated, as well as more expensive and less effective. It would only weaken the hand of British police in fighting crime.

In giving their view, the House of Lords EU committee said: “In light of the evidence we have received, we conclude that the Government have not made a convincing case for exercising the opt-out and that opting out would have significant adverse negative repercussions for the internal security of the UK and the administration of criminal justice in the UK, as well as reducing its influence over this area of EU policy.”

The important question is whether the Government is prepared to listen.

To not do so would be ignoring not just the Lords, but security professionals from across 
many different agencies and 
walks of life.

The Conservatives cannot be allowed to let gesture politics get in the way of the nation’s security. Liberal Democrats in government will insist that our police are not left out of the loop in fighting major crime. While there is time for the Government to decide, it is important that they come to the right decision and soon to end the harmful speculation.