High Peak Liberal Democrats

Local Liberal Democrat MEP Bill Newton Dunn has welcomed the news that Liberal Democrats in government have vetoed Conservative plans to opt out of the key 35 EU crime-fighting measures.

Under the Lisbon Treaty, the UK has the option of quitting a series of cross-border EU crime fighting measures and must make a decision on whether to opt out by April 2014.

Today, following prolonged negotiations within the Coalition at Westminster, Home Secretary Theresa May announced that the government will be opting back in to 35 of the 136 measures, including all those deemed vital by the Association of Chief Police Officers.

Liberal Democrat MEP for the East Midlands Bill Newton Dunn comments:

"Right-wing Tories are so blinded by their anti-EU prejudice that they have gone soft on crime. They wanted to withdraw from all European crime-fighting measures - which leading British law enforcement experts have repeatedly warned are vital for Britain's security."

"Lib Dems were determined not to let right-wing insular ideology trump the safety of the British people. We have ensured that UK can remain part of crucial measures such as the European Arrest Warrant, which has led to the capture of thousands of criminals including murderers, people traffickers, paedophiles and terrorists."

"But the mechanism is that Britain has to opt out of everything first and then Westminster has to negotiate its way back into each of the 35 separate key measures. This will take up to 8 months or even longer due to the fact the Commission and European Parliament both have re-elections, and meanwhile the British people will be totally unprotected from cooperation with our neighbours."

"The Lincolnshire police itself previously carried out a joint operation with Spanish and European Authorities to track down the most wanted Brits on the run in Spain and return them back to the UK under the European Arrest Warrant. Daniel Johnston of Lincolnshire was arrested in Spain and returned to the UK for carrying out two armed robberies, one of which took place in a licensed store in Derbyshire. If we were not a part of this essential measure, criminals like this would be free to escape across borders"

"The reckless Tory plans to withdraw from this kind of cooperation would have left our police with both hands tied behind their back, allowing criminals to escape the long arm of the law. Theresa May has been forced to put British people at risk for months in order to throw a sop to try to appease right-wing Conservative MPs (even though they always come back for more afterwards)..

"Liberal Democrats will continue to ensure that British police forces have the necessary tools to keep people safe and tackle transnational crimes such as drug-trafficking, people-smuggling and child abuse effectively. Modern criminal gangs do not stop at borders. Neither should our efforts to pursue them and bring them to justice by close cooperation with our neighbours."

The Facts

• The Justice and Home Affairs (JHA) mass opt-out is a mechanism negotiated by Labour which allows the UK to choose to opt out en masse from the 133 JHA cooperation measures which pre-date the coming into force of the Lisbon Treaty in 2009. The UK is then allowed to apply to the European Commission to retain some of these measures. Liberal Democrats have forcefully argued that no measures should be dropped if this would threaten the UK's security. The deal struck after more than 12 months of negotiations is to retain a package of 35 measures including all those deemed vital by the Association of Chief Police Officers.

• Since 2009, 4005 criminal suspects have been deported from the UK using the European Arrest Warrant (EAW) to other EU countries, including 57 for child sex offences, 414 for drug trafficking, 86 for rape and 105 for murder.

• Since 2009, 384 suspects were extradited back to the UK to face charges using the EAW including 63 for child sex offences, 105 for drug trafficking, 27 for rape and 44 for murder.

• Liberal Democrats are also pushing for reforms that will stop the misuse of the EAW for trivial offences and will allow British citizens to be bailed back to the UK if they are arrested abroad.

• The House of Lords EU Committee published a report in April 2013 which concluded that the Government has not made "a convincing case for exercising the opt-out" and that "cross-border cooperation on policing and criminal justice matters between the United Kingdom and the other Member States is an essential element in tackling security threats such as terrorism and organised crime."