Britain must stay in Europol – Nick Clegg

One of the oddities of the Conservative right wing has always been how its dislike of Europe leads it to being soft on crime, quite at odds with its usual posturing on the issue. The reason? Pan-European cooperation to fight crime thanks to organisations such as Europol, whose British membership is under threat following the European referendum:

Theresa May will be seen as “soft on terrorism and organised crime” unless she signs the UK up to continued membership of Europol, the EU’s law enforcement agency, warns the former deputy prime minister Nick Clegg.

A key decision over whether the UK remains inside Europol, which pools criminal intelligence and allows this to be shared between police and security forces across the EU, is seen by MPs as the crucial “first test” for the prime minister in Brexit negotiations.

MPs of all parties – including those on the cross-party European scrutiny select committee – are demanding a full House of Commons debate and vote on Europol within the next month as a matter of urgency, following calls from police and intelligence agencies for the UK to retain full membership…

“If the government elevates anti-European dogma above what has been proven to keep Britain safe, Theresa May will leave herself open to claims that she has gone soft on the fight against international terrorism and soft on the fight against organised crime,” Clegg said.

“It would be a spectacular own goal if we were to leave an organisation that we helped establish, contribute so much towards, and which has proved so vital in the fight against international criminal networks.” [The Guardian]